Shadows Awakening
by ShadowAlliance
Summary: After defeating the Heir of Slytherin the Shadow Alliance believes a relaxing summer is in the works. However, that all changes when a prisoner with a shady past escapes. A prisoner with ties to the darkest wizard of the world, Voldemort. What does this figure have planned and how will it affect all of Britain? Shadow Series Year 1(Complete) Year 2(Complete) Year 3(In Progress)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling.**

 **(01/11/18 Update) Just reread some of the early chapters, and admit certain parts seem a bit OC. I think I was trying to make it obvious Scarlet is intelligent for his age, especially amongst his peers, and went a tad overboard. I do promise it gets better really soon and I level my OC out as I become more comfortable with the character and my writing. I will keep this the same maybe make a small tweak, just so I could reflect on how far I came with my writing.**

A Fresh Start

Chapter 1

As he looked out the window of his compartment he could see the countryside pass him by. This wasn't the first time he was on his own coming into a new situation, but it would be the first time he'd be around a lot more people than he's used to. He checked the window to make sure his appearance was in order, his hair was still spiked to the side, and his blue eyes still shone.

Scarlet Shade held mixed reaction when receiving his Hogwarts letter. He'd always had moments of "accidental magic" growing up, so it wasn't the curriculum that was the issue. The biggest problem for him was the large bodies of students. For the past few years he'd had this secluded bubble around him, and had been most comfortable in it, now he was going to be in a situation where he'd had to meet a lot of new people, and forced to interact with them on a daily basis.

He hadn't interacted with most kids growing up, but the ones he did meet were not very pleasant, maybe it was because of the fact they were muggles, and weren't used to "weird kids", such as himself.

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the train start to slow down. He looked out the window and saw that they had arrived at their destination. He pulled his trunk down from the overhead compartment and waited for most of the students to start walking out, he was in no rush and didn't want to be stuck in a crowd for longer than necessary.

As he waited for the train to clear out he kept an eye out at the passing by students, trying to get a better idea of who attended Hogwarts and to see who was joining him this year. Not too many students stood out, there was an older girl probably a 7th year, and the only reason she stood out was that of her bright pink hair. Aside from that Scarlet saw a few red-haired boys that resembled one another, it wasn't until he saw the smallest one talking to a boy with a scar on his face that grabbed his attention.

' _Looks like I won't be the only one to stand out with a scar'_ He thought to himself.

If you were to look at Scarlet you'd see a line cutting across his left eye down to his cheek. For as long as he remembered he'd always had it. Sure enough, it would always cause enough stares wherever he went. It was always a small reason why he wanted to come here, he'd heard about a boy named Harry Potter, and how after defeating he-who-shall-not-be-named, was left with a scar on his forehead. Scarlet was certain he didn't defeat a dark wizard to get the one in his eye but wasn't sure how his scar came to be, maybe he could figure it out at school.

He soon noticed only a few students were left on the train. So he grabbed his luggage and started walking out. The first thing to pop out was a giant of a man near the front, he knew he'd probably see things he's never seen before, but to expect it and for it to actually happen were different. The half-giant was yelling out for first years to get on a boat, so he started walking over there.

He quickly noticed he was the one of the last few left, as almost every boat was full. He found an open seat behind a bushy haired girl, and redhead and sat down behind them. Soon enough the boats started moving on their own, and everyone was able to see Hogwarts in the distance. Scarlet had to grab onto the railing as he saw the castle for the first time, definitely big and intimidating with many towers around it, he looked over and saw most of the first years in awe as well.

As soon as the boats crossed the lake the half-giant directed the kids to follow him into the castle, and it wasn't long till they stopped in front of another individual who he had to assume was one of the teachers.

"Welcome to Hogwarts I am Professor McGonagall, now in a few moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses" The witch started explaining.

' _Houses, was that what the older students were wearing their robes?'_ He thought to himself. He had studied a bit before arriving but that was more focused on academics rather than the school herself.

"They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Now while you're here, your house will be like your family. Your triumph will earn you points, any rule breaking and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup." She ended before being yelled over by a student.

"Trevor!" yelled a pudgy boy, as he bent forward to grab his frog.

Scarlet knew he would have to be very serious in front of the witch, just from the stern look she was giving the pudgy boy as he returned to the group, was something he didn't want to receive. Though Scarlet mainly kept to himself and wasn't really into jokes and pranks, so he felt he wouldn't do anything warranting that look from her.

"The sorting hat ceremony will begin momentarily" She finished and walked off.

Scarlet shouldn't have been shocked that not even one second after she left a commotion was started by a blond haired student he quickly learned was called Draco Malfoy. The way he talked and walked over to Potter and his red-haired companion rubbed Scarlet the wrong way. Someone that young shouldn't be as arrogant as Draco was right now. He couldn't hear what he was talking about, as a few first years beside him were worrying over how they'd be sorted.

"What if they make us fight one another?"

"I heard it's a really hard test." Someone whispered around him.

Hearing that last point the bushy-haired girl he shared a boat with started muttering every spell she knew, then turning over to Scarlet. " What do you think it'll be? I heard a few talking about how we'd have to fight a troll!"

"I doubt they'd kill us the first night, miss…." Indicating he wanted her name.

"I'm so sorry how rude, I'm Hermoine Granger, and you are?" she replied.

"Scarlet. Scarlet Shade." He answered.

Before they could continue talking McGonagall returned and started leading them through the closed doors. The Great Hall was filled with students and staff. He tried tuning out Hermoine as she started spouting out facts about Hogwarts, she was quickly annoying him with all her "helpful" facts.

As they arrived at the front hall Scarlet started to look around in awe. There were thousands of candles floating in mid-air above four long tables housing students. At the other end was another long table where he saw all the professors sitting. He looked around trying to find out how they were about to sort them, as he looked to his right he saw the same pink haired girl from earlier in the train. She must've felt his stare because she turned her head in his direction. She easily was a very pretty witch, with her heart shape faced, and dark eyes contrasting against her spiked bright hair. Eventually, a warm smile stretched across her face and she winked at him.

Scarlet never remembered a time in which he blushed as hard as he did right now. Sure while shopping for school supplies a lot of the older witches would mention how adorable he is, but none of their comments got this reaction.

Seeing Scarlet's bright red face, the pink haired girl had a small chuckle and turned away back to her friends. He made a point to notice which house she was in, so that he would avoid it when his name came up. He had a feeling she enjoyed getting similar reactions out of most people.

"Now before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words." Professor McGonagall announced.

He saw a man with a long grey beard stand up wearing festive robes. Scarlet couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the man's choice of wear.

"Another year at Hogwarts, and another group of young wizards and witches embarking on a journey. I wish you good fortune in the years to come; Hogwarts will always lend aid to those that want it. Now a warning, first years please note, that the Forbidden Forest is strictly forbidden to all students, Also our caretaker Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind you that the 3rd-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds, to everyone that does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you" Dumbledore sat down, and everyone's attention was back on Professor McGonagall.

"When I call your name, you will step forth and sit on this stool, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you shall be sorted into your house." She explained.

One by one, students were placed in different houses. Scarlet still wasn't sure which house he wanted to be in, they all had different merits and showcased different skills from what he heard from nearby students as the hat sorted different students.

"Granger, Hermoine."

The bushy haired girl from earlier walked over a bit nervous, and still muttering every spell she knew as if it would help.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled. Scarlet was inwardly surprised he thought she'd be a perfect match with Ravenclaw

"Greengrass, Daphne."

A small blonde haired girl strode up, what was odd was that she had a mask of indifference on her face. Most of the students in this year were all either beaming with excitement or scared silly. She, on the other hand, was calm, cool, collected, and hardly displayed any emotion on her face, much like him. Very odd trait to see in an eleven-year-old. He had his own reasons for behaving that way; he doubted she had similar reasons too. Scarlet felt he would have to keep an eye on her.

"SLYTHERIN!" The sorting hat yelled. Yes, most definitely keep an eye on her if what he heard about that particular house was true.

It wasn't until Harry Potters name was called that grabbed everyone's attention. Seemed everyone was eager to see where their savior would be placed. Soon enough the sorting hat yelled Gryffindor and the corresponding table erupted in applause, the loudest yet. Scarlet would be embarrassed if his house reacted like that to him, Potter hadn't done anything and yet celebrated like he won them the House Cup.

"Shade. Scarlet." Announced McGonagall after a few more students were sorted.

Scarlet took a deep breath and started walking over; he noticed the headmaster eagerly lean in his seat just like he did for Potter. _'Don't know whether to be happy or concerned I have his attention already'_. He sat on the stool and took another deep breath before the hat was placed on his head.

 _Well, well, well. What do we have here?_

Scarlet couldn't help but be startled as voices entered his mind.

 _Not to worry, just need to see enough to sort you._

"Anything but Hufflepuff." Scarlet said.

 _Looks like someone already has an admirer, don't tell me you're scared of a little witch._

"Something about her makes me uneasy like she sees something in me that I don't see" Scarlet answered.

 _I'm sworn to secrecy about what I see in other student's heads, but I know for certain you two would get along. Alas, Hufflepuff isn't the house best suited for you._

"Don't suppose you have any personal recommendations then?" Scarlet asked.

 _From what I see you have the abilities that would suit you well in the other three houses. Dumbledore was right; you are a special wizard._

"He said that about me? I've never talked to him before."

 _You'll soon realize your headmaster knows far more than you realize, but enough about that, now where to put you? Hmmm, how about…._

"GRYFFINDOR!" Yelled the sorting hat.

As he made his way over to the table he spared a glance at Dumbledore. If one were to look at him they would see surprise, no. Relief?

' _Why would he be relieved? I'm probably just over thinking it.'_

The Sorting Ceremony ended when a dark-skinned boy Blaise Zabini was sorted into Slytherin. The stool and hat were then removed and the headmaster stood up to speak again. But it was Potter that took his attention, as he saw the boy clutch his head in pain.

It was the Headmasters last line that brought Scarlet's attention back to him.

"Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

"Odd way to end it." Scarlet muttered to himself.

"That's just Dumbledore" answered the redhead, who he learned was called Ron Weasley. "People like to think he's out there, but all my older brothers tell me there's a seriousness to him underneath it all."

"He's the most powerful wizard there is!" A dark skin boy added, Dean Thomas he believed.

A few more first years all added their opinions on their Headmaster, the clear takeaway from it all was he's powerful, and they all respect him, even the muggleborn students. Maybe Scarlet was over thinking the man.

Soon the empty plates on the table were filled with food halting all conversations. Scarlet's mouth couldn't help but water looking at it all, an assortment of beef, and veggies, with a delicious selection of pumpkin juice. He quickly dug in, ignoring the surrounding conversations, until one, in particular, caught his attention.

Potter was asking about one their professors, Severus Shape. He looked over, the man seemed like another teacher he would have to extremely serious around. From the sound of it he was their potions teacher.

"He's known for being bias against students outside his house, best to keep your nose down." One of the taller redheads said, probably Ron's older brother from the looks of it.

He would have to be careful in potions class, and figure out a way to navigate through it without his grades suffering.

Soon the feast was over and Dumbledore instructed the Prefects to lead all first years to the common room. He would've enjoyed continuing seeing more of the castle on the way, but by that point, he just wanted to lie in his bed.

After the tour through the magical staircase, and hallway past an amazing sort of armors and paintings Scarlet could finally settle down in his dorm room. Which he has shared with five other boys for the next seven years.

Dean and Seamus seemed all right probably wouldn't be close friends anytime soon, Neville seemed very nervous and bit out of place compared to the rest of them, Ron was literally jumping with joy on his bed. Probably all the excitement of the first day, wait till they got their first batch of homework, he doubted Ron would still be this excited, and finally the boy-who-lived. He wasn't sure what to make of him yet, for a celebrity he wasn't anywhere close to arrogant, but he didn't seem to have much self-confidence either. Scarlet would wait before casting judgment on him.

Scarlet soon changed and got into bed pulling the curtains around him giving him some privacy. As he lay there he thought of what classes would be like and how he was going to survive seven years of this.

XXX

As Monday morning came around Scarlet wasn't surprised he was the first one up. When he'd first gotten his Hogwarts letter, he spent most of his time studying up on their school textbooks. Which involved staying up later than normal, and waking up early to fit more time to read. When he felt he got a to a certain comfort point in each subject, he started to ease up, but he did end up picking up the habit of waking up early, which he was fine with. Just meant he'd get first dibs at breakfast every day.

Scarlet quickly got dressed and walked down to the common room. He didn't stay in it too long last night, as he was tired from the feast. Now getting a chance to look around he could appreciate the effort put into it. It housed a lot of comfortable couches and chairs to socialize in, or study, the fireplace gave a home feeling to it, definitely made you comfortable, and he appreciated the staff for providing the room for them.

There weren't many students in the common room, but he did notice two first years. Lavender Brown, and Parvati Patil. He figured now would be a good choice to talk to them, but as he walked closer he could hear their conversation more clearly.

"Harry Potter is definitely cuter than I thought he would be." Lavender said.

Nope, nope, nope. He would not subject himself to "girl talk" regardless if they were his housemates. He got enough of that when he was getting his robes fitted in Diagon Alley. A pair of witches a few years his senior were getting new robes at the same time, and since he was in the middle of his fitting he couldn't leave the room and was forced to listen to them argue about who was cute in the weekly issue of Witches Weekly.

Scarlet quickly turned around and started walking out of their common room, the door opened on its own, and as he walked on the magical staircase he hoped he could still remember the route to the Great Hall because his stomach wouldn't forgive him if he missed breakfast.

With the help of a few prefects from Ravenclaw, he found his way to the great hall. It was still early in the morning so there were only a few students, though most of the staff were present.

He found his way over to his house table; he found a pair of red-headed twins was the only ones from his house present. He remembered before falling asleep Ron telling Harry about his mischievous twins, and to not get on their bad side. Not wanting to be on the receiving end of their jokes he figured a good impression would help.

"What do we have here brother? Another innocent Gryffindor not causing mayhem like us?" Said one twin.

"Indeed brother, he's a firstie, haven't had the chance to be corrupted." Responded the answer.

"Perhaps we should fix that."

"This firstie would rather not be corrupted, I already have to deal with your younger brother for the next seven years." Scarlet decided to butt in.

"Try living with him for eleven years, but we make the most of it."

"By _volunteering_ him as our guinea pigs for our new products." At this point, Scarlet was starting to be a little unnerved at how they continued each other's thoughts.

"But enough of that, I'm Forge, and he's Gred."

"No, I'm Forge and your Gred."

"Nice try, I heard your brother call you _Fred_ and _George_ last night, don't know which is which yet. I'm Scarlet by the way." Scarlet shook both their hands.

"Ronnikins always ruin the fun." Fred said. Or was it George? It would take a while for Scarlet to tell which is which.

"At least he can't run off to mum."

"Or worse, Ginny."

Both twins shudder at the last thought.

"Well as enlightening as this conversation is, I best get my innocent self some breakfast before you cause toilet seats to rain down the Great Hall." Scarlet started to walk over to the other end of the table.

"Never used a toilet seat like that."

"But thanks for the idea!" One the twins shouted as he walked farther away. Scarlet worried to think what he might have just caused.

Scarlet still had time before they served breakfast, normally he would've taken the time to catch up on some reading, but since he didn't have his class schedule yet he had nothing to do but wait around. He started thinking about the students he interacted with so far. None of which seemed to peek his interest. Scarlet hoped that he would be able to see a more interesting side of them once in class, he doubted it though.

Soon the Great Hall started to fill with students and breakfast magically appeared. Scarlet had a brief chuckle about using magic as his excuse for most things; it was both lazy and comical answer to most things in Hogwarts. He noticed that even though most of his house was here there were a few empty seats around him. Before coming to school he hadn't interacted with people in his age group, so it didn't bother him. However, it did bring the notice to his head of house.

"Saving a few seats for your friends Mr. Shade?" Professor McGonagall asked while handing out class schedules to neighboring students.

"Why need friends when I'm enjoying a lovely breakfast with me, myself, and I?" Scarlet responded, before taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"You aren't the first student to be shy about making friends Mr. Shade, here is your schedule. I implore you not to be late for your first class, Professor Snape doesn't have the patience for tardiness." She said handing him his schedule before moving down the table.

Scarlet didn't bother correcting her about the shy comment, as he took a glance at his schedule and saw true to her word potions being his first class; unfortunately, they would be sharing the class with Slytherin. He'd been here for only a day and even he knew having those two houses together was a disaster waiting to happen, the class after that is charms, then a lunch break, defense against the dark arts next, and finally herbology. The schedule was a bit packed, but if he organized his time wisely he would still have time to explore the castle and its grounds.

After quickly stopping by his dorm to gather his school supplies Scarlet made his way to the dungeons where the class was located. As he got close to the classroom he noticed two groups of students waiting to get inside. He stayed back a bit, to formulate a plan; he still had no idea how to handle Snape.

Soon the door to the classroom opened, and the man of his thoughts came out. He glanced over to the group of Slytherins when his eyes found his group of Gryffindors a sneer appeared on his face. If Scarlet ever found the sorting hat again he would burn it to the ground for not putting him in Slytherin. Potions would not be fun.

As he walked inside, an idea came to him. He looked at the seats and saw that the classroom was split in half, Gryffindors on the right, Slytherins on the left. He found an empty seat beside two Slytherin students deep within their territory in class. Either Scarlet would stand out sitting in a sea of serpents, or they would provide the perfect cover for him. _Guess the hat was on something with me, it's going to take a stupid amount of Gryffindor bravery to do something like this.'_

As he got closer he noticed one of the students at the table was Daphne Greengrass, the girl beside her he didn't recognize, she had red crop hair style both seemed to stop talking once they notice him come closer. Scarlet just needed to find something to break Greengrass's ice mask.

"If you didn't notice your kind sits over there." Greengrass coldly told him pointing to the far side of the room.

"My father said if there's a chance, always sit beside the prettiest witch of your year." Scarlet thought a compliment might break through her mask. A small part of him did admit both were very pretty, especially Daphne.

If anything her glare got colder, and she was about to grab Snape's attention. Maybe honesty would help.

"Hold on put your hand down, you and I both know that Snape has a certain _dislike_ to all Gryffindor students. I thought by sitting around you all that he wouldn't notice me in your sea of green, and he'd leave me in peace and I'd be able to get my work done." Seemed the change of tactics work, as her glare disappeared and she seemed to be thinking over what he said.

"I'm surprised, that's such a Slytherin move, subtle, yet effective, alright you can sit here." She motioned to the empty seat.

"I'm Scarlet Shade." He said while sitting down and taking out his supplies.

"I'm Daphne Greengrass, and this is my friend Tracey Davis." She motioned to the redhead beside her.

"Sorry about my friend she can be a bit cold to strangers, I think she likes to make people uncomfortable." Tracey said,

"Tracey!" Daphne quickly hushed her friend before she could continue. Even though she was mildly embarrassed there wasn't a hint of blush on her face.

It was at that moment that a loud sound of the door being closed shut off all chatter in class.

'There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class, as such I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact the dispersion making. However, for those select few who possess the predisposition, I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame brew glory and even put a stopper in death." Professor Snape certainly had a gift for setting the tone in class, at this point having the class's undivided attention. Well, all except for one as Scarlet saw his gaze linger on a certain boy. "Then again maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident to not. Pay. Attention." With each word raising his voice at the boy, who only just now looked up to the professor.

"Mr. Potter, our new celebrity." Snape continued with such contempt.

The way Snape said it made it feel as if there was bad blood between the two. Scarlet wasn't sure what an 11-year-old could do make an adult feel that way, but figured it wasn't going to end.

Scarlet was right, as the class went on Snape took every chance he could get to further humiliate Potter, asking question after question on certain ingredients and potions. It became clear that Potter couldn't answer any of Snape's questions, which surprised Scarlet. There were one or two questions he couldn't answer, but for the most part, he knew the answers. That fact that Potter couldn't answer one lowered Scarlets opinion on the boy. It was quickly being apparent to him that there was nothing special about the Boy-Who-Lived. But maybe he was being too harsh, it was only one class, perhaps he specialized in a different subject.

When Snape grew bored of Potter, he would move along to the other Gryffindor students, and criticize their work as well, while taking off points. Luckily for Scarlet, his plan had worked as Snape barley walked by tables housing Slytherin students, and thus he avoided any _helpful tips_ from the potions professor himself.

Soon class was dismissed and Scarlet, Daphne, and Tracey handed in their finished potions and walked out of the classroom.

"Your plan worked, not bad for a Gryffindor." Daphne said when they were out of earshot of the other students.

"A Slytherin complimenting a Gryffindor? Must be my lucky day." Scarlet responded.

"Humor doesn't suit you." Daphne said dryly.

"Kettle, this is pot calling you black."

"I think it's cute the way you two flirt." Tracey interjected.

The cold stare she received from Scarlet and Daphne quickly quieted her.

"Seems we'll be seeing a lot more of each other in potions now that you practically got away with murder in that class, good day Shade." Daphne said as both she and Tracey started walking away.

"Nice meeting you Scarlet!" Tracey said

"Have a good day you two." Scarlet said as walked down towards his next class.

' _Not bad so far, if that's the worst class Hogwarts has to offer, the rest should be easy.'_

 **Authors Note:**

 **Apologize in advance; this is my first work of fanfiction, so if there's anything that needs to address just let me know. This is an idea I've had in my head for the longest time, and now finally putting it on paper. The goal of this story is that it'll span all 7 books, though it will not be the same story with just an OC plugged in.**

 **As JK said all her character have flaws, and Scarlet has his fair share that'll affect the story in different ways, he won't be a mary-sue character. There will be some differences in order to move the story along, for instance, Tonks is in her last year of school. I have the first couple of chapters completed and will be uploading them periodically. My aim is to have each chapter between 4000 – 6000 words. Thank you for your time, and I hope you enjoyed it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling.**

Fresh Start

Chapter 2

It was the end of the first week of classes. Transfiguration their last class for the day had started out well. Professor McGonagall had them taking down notes before attempting to turn a matchstick into a needle. It was a bit different from Snape's class where he had just written instructions on the board and made them fend for themselves. Here Professor McGonagall would walk around the class offering suggestions to struggling students. She was currently sitting on a table transforming herself into a cat, a bit of a show-off, but it gave the students something to look forward to in their later years.

His other classes had varied, Herbology wasn't something he was interested in upon reading the textbook, and he could understand the knowledge of it helped into potion making and its properties. Professor Sprout was a cheerful woman who likes McGonagall was very helpful.

Defense Against the Dark Arts wasn't what he expected. Professor Quirrell did not stop stuttering and made it difficult to understand him at times. Scarlet didn't understand the decision Dumbledore made to make the man teach this subject, he was afraid of his own shadow.

History of Magic was just boring. At first, he and the rest of the class were excited by the fact an actual ghost was teaching them, but professor Binns started talking, and Scarlet quickly realized his monotone voice wasn't doing anything to make anyone pay attention. Add to the fact he seemed to drown on and on about goblin rebellions, and not actual wizard and witches history.

Charms were easily his favorite class, considering the fact the first lesson went well. Professor Flitwick despite his height was someone well educated on the subject and taught the class Lumos charm. Though Scarlet ended up overdoing it by nearly blinding half the class, he'd have to work on it.

It was when Scarlet was nearly finished writing down his notes that Weasley and Potter ran inside. Both seemed out of breath and a bit lost, clearly, they didn't bother asking for directions ahead of time, he could see ahead of him Granger shake her head at them.

"Thank Merlin McGonagall's not here! Could you imagine the look on her face if she saw us come in late." Weasley sighed in relief.

The cat twitched a little and jumped off the desk, and in its place was their professor. Scarlet couldn't hold his smirk back as Weasley's face paled. It got even better when McGonagall threatened to turn one into a watch and the other into a map. _'Better thank those Ravenclaw prefects for giving me directions.'_

Soon Scarlet finished his notes and was ready to make his first attempt. He muttered the incantation precise and properly and with a swish of his wand turned the matchstick into a needle. There were a few surprised gasps; no one had been successful, especially on their first try.

"Well done Mr. Shade, 10 points to Gryffindor for such a beautiful display of transfiguration." Scarlet could see a growing respect from his professor as she said that, she gave him a slight nod and walked away helping the other students.

Beside him, Seamus Finnigan was trying to replicate what he just did. Finnigan wouldn't be his first choice for a tablemate, but it was the insistence of Professor McGonagall that he should sit beside him. She still thought his lack of friends was because of his shyness; Scarlet didn't have it in him to correct his professor on why he didn't have any companions in his house.

For the past week, Scarlet had closely been observing his housemates during classes. Aside from an academic standpoint, none really interested him. Both Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were all right students, but their choice of conversation wasn't something Scarlet found interesting. Seemed Browns family owned their own cosmetic shop and she constantly was talking about their newest products.

Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Ron Weasley very similar in that regard, only instead of cosmetics merely switch it to Quidditch and it was the exact same situation. Scarlet didn't watch the sport growing up so a lot of the talk went over his head. One thing that did set him off was their constant chatter of a certain bushy haired girl.

Hermoine Granger had easily proven herself as the top of her class the first few days. She was far more intelligent than him and any other student in their year, with only a few students in Ravenclaw matching her. However, it was her constant need to show off said intelligence, which annoyed Scarlet. Raising her hand at every question, critiquing the students that sat beside her even if they didn't ask for help. She wasn't doing anything wrong; it was just the way she was coming across. ' _She doesn't have any friends that I'm aware of, maybe she's trying too hard to impress them?'_

Finally, there was the savior of the wizarding world, Harry Potter. In a word, underwhelming. He possessed no outstanding skills in any subject, with the exception of flying, which ended with him making the Quidditch team. He was just average. After all the talk he heard about him from his trip to Diagon Alley he'd expected some above average skills, maybe receiving some basic training or even a natural affinity for the subjects. It spoke volumes that a muggleborn like Granger who only just learned of the existence of magic was outperforming someone who knew about it most of his life. It just didn't make sense.

His thoughts were interrupted when Finnigan started to get increasingly frustrated about their assignment. He was trying to repeat what Scarlet had done, but only managed to knock the matchstick onto the floor. He started repeating his attempts on the matchstick in front of Scarlet, getting louder and louder. In the back of his mind, Scarlet knew he probably should've helped his fellow Gryffindor out, but he was just too amused at Finnigan's poor attempts.

Unfortunately, he should've remembered there was another trait Finnigan was commonly known for. Explosions. By the time Scarlet realized this he was being blown off his seat and landed hard on the floor. What was it that muggles called it? Karma. Yeah, it was quickly becoming a pain in the arse to Scarlet.

As he got up he noticed a searing pain on his right hand. Professor McGonagall was quickly by his side and examined his hand. "Oh dear, the burn isn't too extensive, Madam Pomfrey should be able to treat this. Ms. Gragner please escort Mr. Shade to the infirmary"

"It's alright professor, I know the way to the hospital wing, memorized it on my first day. Didn't think I'd need to use it this soon." Scarlet mused.

He saw his professor nod reluctantly. She levitated his supplies into his school bag and handed it to him in his good hand. He left the class not bothering to look at Finnigans remorseful face, or anyone else's.

Though he didn't want to admit it, the burn to his hand was bothering him extremely. Even just looking at it was making it painful for Scarlet. Of course, there were bad memories associated with fire, but he didn't want to think about it right now. He finally made his way to the hospital wing and found who he was looking for.

"I'm Madam Pomfrey I will be handling all your future injuries for the next 7 years. Considering the fact your in Gryffindor house I think we'll be quite familiar with each other by the time you graduate." She introduced herself.

"I look forward to the next 7 years then" Scarlet deadpanned. "Can you look at my hand? There was an accident during class and it got burned." He raised his right hand for her to look at.

Madam Pomfrey took his right hand, and Scarlet noticed confusion on her face. "If this is a joke I found it very wasteful of my time. I have other patients I need to attend to." She dropped his hand and began to walk off.

Scarlet was confused at what she said, and looked at his right hand, confused at what she meant. But when he looked at his hand he noticed the burn marks were gone! It was as if they were never there. That's crazy, he saw it, professor McGonagall saw it, but where did it go? When he tried touching it with his other hand a wave of pain washed over him. The burn mark may have disappeared but the pain was still there. He quickly ran over to Pomfrey.

"I know this might sound odd but it's not a joke. I burned my hand and for whatever reason it's not showing." Raising his right hand again.

She took it and then noticed her eyes widen when he saw his hand the burn mark was back! "Tch, luckily its only minor burn, nothing a simple potion can't fix." She went over to her cabinet to collect the right potions. "What I'm most curious is how you managed to make it disappear? Glamour?" Madam Pomfrey asked while handing him the potion to drink.

"No ma'am, I've never tried that before." Scarlet drank the potion; it had a nasty taste to it, but which medicine ever tastes well?

Scarlet noticed Pomfrey's eyes narrow in thought. "This may be a strange question, but when was the last time you cut your hair?" She asked.

Scarlet was taken aback, which was a strange question at a time like this. But when he thought back to it, he couldn't come up with an answer. His black hair had always been spiked to the side; he figured it was just because of magic. "I've actually never had one before, it's always been like this." He answered.

"Well I don't want to raise your hopes but I think you may be a metamorphmagus."

"What is that?" Scarlet was slightly curious.

"Metamorphmagus is a witch or wizard born with the ability to change their appearance, without having to use a spell or potion. They're quite rare, and the only reason I know about them is that we have one in our school, and we had a similar situation to the one we just had moments ago.

For the first time since coming to Hogwarts Scarlet's mouth dropped. Him having a rare form of magic, that was the last thing he expected. But then if he was one why was his scar still showing? There had been days where he'd stand in front of a mirror wishing that damn thing wasn't there. All the stares, the pitying looks, there were times where Scarlet would just get frustrated at the thought of it.

"If you'd like I can ask the student if they'd see you. Just to be sure you are in fact a metamorphmagus." She asked interrupting Scarlet's thoughts.

'Yes, I'd like that very much."

"Excellent, now you two are in different houses so you can't meet in the common room, I'll tell them to meet you in an unused classroom tomorrow at 6. Third floor, fourth door on the left, right across from an old painting of the black lake." She started gathering her things.

"Thanks, for everything Madam Pomfrey."

"Your welcome, now hopefully I won't see you again, or your next visit will be very unpleasant." She said heading to her next patient on a nearby bed.

Scarlet had a brief chuckle, she seemed tough, but Madam Pomfrey was just as caring on the inside. Though he did hope he wouldn't have to walk back there anytime soon.

Since it was the last class of the day Scarlet decided to head to the Library to finish his homework. He would be meeting his tutor tomorrow and he didn't know how long the session would be. If it did drag on he just wanted to be sure there wouldn't be a pile of homework waiting for him.

As he walked in he noticed the older students took up most of the nearby tables. As he kept looking he found none of the tables were free. But he did find one occupied by Greengrass and Davis. Shrugging his shoulder he walked over to them, Tracey was the first to notice him.

"Hi Scarlet, how are you?" She asked. Of the two girls, Tracey had always been cheerful towards him potions class, while Daphne merely tolerated his presence.

"Doing well seems the three of us had the bright idea of finishing our homework before the weekend." Scarlet answered.

Tracey nodded here head towards Daphne "This one always had a stick in her bum when it comes to working, always makes me come with her to the library even if the work isn't due until next week. If only she made more friends she'd have more reasons to have fun."

Scarlet noticed that Daphne was ignoring them, or at least trying to. Her right eye twitched when Tracey made that comment about her.

"In fairness, there isn't much to do, can't go to Hogsmeade, and we aren't taught any useful spells to sneak out after curfew. Isn't that right Greengrass?" Scarlet asked.

Daphne finally puts down her book. She was giving Scarlet a cold glare. "Why are here? We let you sit with us at potions because of Snape, but he isn't here. So why continue to bother us?" She said.

If Scarlet was a bit immature he might've started yelling and getting angry at her comment, but he didn't. He understood where the hostility was coming from, she didn't trust him, and he was an unknown to her. It's the reason why she stuck out to him during the sorting hat ceremony. He saw a lot of himself in her.

"You interest me." He shrugged his shoulders. He noticed her glare even harder.

"I'm not looking to date anyone." Daphne retorted.

"I didn't mean it like that, you have this cold perception around you. Whether it's because of personal tragedy in your life, or how you're raised as a pureblood, you have a mask on." He said.

Scarlet noticed her glare disappear, and was replaced with pure shock, the only time he noticed her express an emotion on her face, that wasn't one of anger.

"I know this because regardless of what you may think of me, I'm the same way, for different reasons sure, but similar. You may have noticed during meal times I don't sit beside my fellow housemates, mainly because I don't trust them very easily, and it's easier to step back and evaluate them from a distance. So far none have left a good impression on me. You have done same, only Nott and Zabini have studied with you, but only because like me they had invited themselves to sit with you both." Scarlet continued. Daphne looked stumped; clearly, she wasn't put in situations like this before. He looked over at Tracey she seemed to be enjoying their interaction very much; the giant grin on her face was evident at that.

"It's official you're studying with us forever, I've never seen anyone break Daphne like you did, and I've known here since forever." Tracey started to giggle at her best friends reaction.

"Fine! You can sit with us, but don't expect us to become best friends all of a sudden, you're right I don't trust you, I don't know you, but maybe we can change that." Daphne had finally found the strength to speak after she noticed Tracey giggling at her.

"Never thought I'd see the day a boy breaks the ice queens heart and it only took a week, Scarlet please marry Daphne!" Tracey begged.

Daphne's face was red, not because she was blushing, but because of pure anger directed at her friend. Seemed Tracey enjoyed teasing Daphne a lot, and since it was just the three of them right now, had no problems of showing it.

"Tracey! If you say another word I'll tell your mother it was you who destroyed the house painting with your accidental magic." Daphne said with clenched teeth.

Tracey gasped in mock horror at what her best friend said. "Fine, but Ill just writes to your mother that you let a cute boy sit with us." Tracey had a giant smile on her face, and twice in a matter of minutes, Daphne looked uncharacteristically stumped. Clearly, Daphne's mother was a source of embarrassment for her.

Scarlet felt a little uncomfortable at how Tracey described him, he never sat around girls a lot growing up, and was wondering if this was how they normally talked. If so, he may start regretting sitting here.

Daphne sighed in defeat when she realized she couldn't win with Tracey. "Why don't we finish this essay for DADA, and never go back to this conversation."

"Alright, Ill stop the teasing for now, but its just so much fun seeing you flustered." Tracey giggled when Daphne's eye twitched at her comments. She then turned to Scarlet. " By the way, aren't you concerned with how your house will react to seeing you with us? Slytherin and Gryffindor aren't exactly on respectable terms.

Scarlet thought about it for a moment, it was true there was a hostile house rivalry going on, just looking at how Potter and Malfoy talked to one another was proof of that. However, when he heard his house talk about certain dark wizards all coming through Slytherin he knew it was ridiculous. It may be true, but your house doesn't dictate who you are.

"If the only reasons my dorm mates don't like snakes is because they think they're all _dark wizards_ , then they aren't good company to keep." Scarlet noticed Daphne looking at him in a new light, it seemed there was a growing respect being shown.

"You sure you chose the right house? You seem more Slytherin than your current one." Daphne asked him.

"Choice? I didn't choose Gryffindor the Sorting Hat did, doesn't he do that with everyone?" Scarlet was a little confused at what she said.

"Ultimately it's up to us, it always ask us what we want, it can provide insightful advice, but it's always our choice." Tracey answered.

"It didn't when it was talking to me, it said I'd do well in most houses, then selected Gryffindor, there wasn't a choice." Scarlet wasn't sure what to make of this, does the Sorting Hat sometimes made its own choices? Or did someone want to make sure he ended up in the house of lions? Scarlet then remembered the look Dumbledore was giving when it was his turn to be sorted. He looked very eager to see where he was placed; he didn't think anything of it at the time, but now he wasn't sure.

"I remember it asked if I wanted to say I was brave by joining Gryffindor, or to actually be brave by joining Slytherin. Guess what I chose?" Tracey said.

"Why would you be brave by joining Slytherin?" Scarlet asked.

Tracey's eyes widened, she clearly must've said something he wasn't supposed to hear. "Um, not be mean but I don't want to say it in the middle of a public library. Let's just say it's the reason why Daphne is cold towards strangers. See she can be cold, but inside she's just a softie."

"Quiet you!" Daphne hissed, but her eyes indicated she was enjoying the teasing.

"Oh come on Daphne, if you two are going to get married he'll figure out you're a giant teddy bear." Tracey replied.

"Oh really? Well speaking of teddy bears Scarlet did you know that Tracey sleeps with two in her bed every night." Daphne smirked.

"I DO NOT!" Tracey screamed. Grabbing everyone's attention in the library, she blushed at the unwelcome attention and shrank in her seat.

"I think Greengrass wins this round Davis." Scarlet chuckled at the redheads embarrassment. In the first time in awhile he felt relaxed around people, he was glad he made the right choice in sitting with them. He just hoped he'd have the same luck with his tutor.

XXX

The remainder of Friday went by smoothly for Scarlet. He, Daphne, and Tracey had finished their work for the weekend quickly and had spent the rest of the night enjoying each other's company. He learned that Daphne came from a noble and ancient house; her father runs a successful export and import business, and that she would one day inherit it. Making her a very powerful ally in the future.

Tracey had told him her parents and Daphne's parent had been friends since their days in Hogwarts. They were both successful in their respective fields. Her father was an Auror, and her mother was a healer at St. Mungos. She told him that she wanted to pursue one of the two fields but wasn't sure which. She offered to introduce him to them to help him get a better idea of both fields.

Scarlet was currently waiting in the classroom Madam Pomfrey had instructed him to meet in. He was very nervous, she had told him she wasn't certain if he was a Metamorphmagus, and today he would find out. He didn't want to get his hopes up but the ability to morph without potions or a spell would be very handy.

He currently wondered what his tutor would be like, Madam Pomfrey had mentioned that they were an older student, so they would probably take these sessions very serious, and be very astute. Scarlet could look up to them as a model student. He was very eager to meet the person now, they would be calm, they would be collected, and very easy to talk to.

"WOTCHER SCARLET!"

A voice yelled in the doorway startling him, which was immediately followed by something hitting a table, and then something landing on the ground floor. Scarlet turned around and didn't see anyone, odd where did his tutor go? That was when he saw something pink appear from underneath the table. _'You have got to be kidding me!?'_

"Well, well, well if it isn't my admirer from the first day. I know I normally attract attention from boys, but this is the first time it comes from a first year." She said while getting off the floor and walking over to him.

"I'm not an admirer!" Scarlet said a bit too hastily.

He noticed she raised an eyebrow at the statement, and then a giant smirk appeared on her face. "You sure? My friend told me you were staring at me for 2 minutes before she told me you were looking at me."

Scarlet really wished he were in control of his possible metamorphmagus abilities because the blush on his face wasn't going away anytime soon. "It was the hair okay! I've never seen someone with pink hair before."

"Why do you think I chose this color? Just one of many gifts that make me stand out." She said striking a pose as if a spotlight was on her. "When Madam Pomfrey talked to me yesterday about another metamorphmagus, I couldn't believe it, another one here!? You are so going to get corrupted." She started rubbing her hands together in a predatory way.

Scarlet couldn't help but take a step back. "I don't suppose you could tell me your name? Would hate to call you pinky." He drawled.

"Wouldn't be a bad name, certainly better than my first name, but just call me Tonks." she answered.

"Alright Tonks, how do we get started?" Scarlet asked.

"We'll start out easy, the eyes and hair are the most simple thing to change, and from what Madam Pomfrey told me you've never had a haircut before so it should come easiest to you, bone structures will come later, you're lucky you have me teaching you these things, made quite a lot of trips to the hospital wing." Tonks winked as if she just shared a secret with him.

"Now I want you to close your eyes, see your face." Scarlet nodded and followed her instructions. "Now I want you to imagine your eyes but change them from blue to green." He imagined himself with green eyes and focused nothing except that. He opened his eyes and looked at Tonks.

She had moved closer to him when she was explaining to him and was crouched down at face level. "Sorry but no change, that's alright though it's a lot harder than it looks. Would be very jealous if you got it on the first try. Why don't you grab onto my hands Ill go through the changes slowly to my eye color, try to see if you can feel my magic." She stuck out both hands for him to take.

He grabbed both of her hands, and look up at her face. She winked at him before changing her dark colored eyes, to red, then green, blue, yellow, and then back to her natural color. While she was changing Scarlet could a faint sense of magic radiating from her. _It feels nice, and also familiar.'_

Once she was done Scarlet let go and closed his eyes. He tried to replicate the feeling he had when she was doing it, he imagined his eyes changing color. When he felt he was ready he opened them and looked over at Tonks. He must've done it because the next thing he knew she tackled him in a bone-crushing hug. Unfortunately for him, the height difference had his face being suffocated by her bosom. Instead of his face turning red, Scarlet felt his entire body flush red.

She finally let go and looked at his flushed face. "Sorry about that, usually let them at my chest on the second date." Tonks teased him.

Scarlet couldn't say anything he just looked down trying so hard to make his blush disappear. He must've been successful as when he looked up he saw Tonks pouting. "That's no fun! How am I supposed to tease you if you can hide your blush!" She stomped her foot on the ground for good measure. Scarlet chuckled, wondering who was the older one between the two.

"Well at least I can make you laugh, one of my many gifts." She supplied. "Since you got eyes down pretty quickly why don't we move on to your hair?"

For the next few hours they worked on his abilities, he found he could easily change the color of his eyes and hair; it just took a lot of concentration to maintain it. Tonks explained that at the beginning she had to keep a constant thought on her changes and that as she became more experienced the changes became second nature to her, and didn't require much thought. Scarlet was just happy the session confirmed he had the abilities, achieving anything else was just icing on the cake.

Soon the session came to a close as Tonks noticed there was only half an hour till curfew. "Well as much as I'd like to continue this, we better pack up and head back to our dorms."

"Too bad you aren't a prefect, we could stay out as late as possible." Scarlet said as they both exited the classroom and started walking.

"My Head of House said I lacked certain necessary qualities."

"Like what?"

"Like the ability to behave myself." Tonks said.

"You misbehaving? But you're such a model students." Scarlet teased.

Tonks couldn't help but laugh at that comment. "Quiet you! Or there'll be no more sessions."

"I think you'd miss it more than I would." He answered.

Tonks stopped to pause for a few moments thinking it over. "Dammit, you're right. You've become my new favorite plaything, wouldn't be right to deprive myself of pleasure."

There it was that same predatory look she gave him earlier that evening was showing again. "When do you want to meet again? Once a week?" Scarlet suggested.

"Hmmmm, same time next week, but I was thinking an additional meetup sometime in the middle of the week. You can join me and friends for a study session." Tonk suggested.

"Don't you all have NEWTS to study for? I'd hate to distract you all."

"Naw, its still early in the year for work to pile up, besides it'll give me an opportunity to see if you can maintain your changes while focusing on homework at the same time. Plus we'd be giving you a hand at the work. I know I don't look like it but I've been studying gain acceptance into the Auror Academy" Tonks said.

Scarlet had to admit she had a point it would be easier to see if he was actually making progress if someone was watching him, or else he'd have to carry a mirror around and look every so often to see if it was working. Plus as older students, they'd have gone through the work already and would probably be very helpful.

Studying with Daphne and Tracey had benefitted him greatly, there were just a few subjects he had difficulty with and they were both glad to help. But having 7th years along was different, it would give him an idea of what to expect in later years. Plus it was the second time he heard about Aurors and from what he heard definitely peaked his interest.

"That would be great, how about Tuesday after last class?" Scarlet suggested.

"Sure thing, just don't get overwhelmed sitting by a bunch of pretty girls." Tonks winked at him.

Scarlet couldn't help but smile at her. She was someone who he didn't expect to like at the beginning and quickly grew fond of her. "I'm sure I can manage, anyway thanks again for tonight I had a lot of fun."

"I should be thanking you, I now have a partner in crime, I already have a plan thought up for the first Hogsmeade weekend."

"Looking forward to it, anyway Gryffindor common is down this corridor, Goodnight Tonks."

"Night Scarlet." Tonks nudged his shoulder with hers and turned and walked the other way.

He was just about to turn around when he noticed her trip on a nearby suit of armor, knocking her flat on the ground. She got up and dusted herself

"Second time today, the same suit of armor too!" Scarlet heard her mutter as she continued walking down the corridor.

Scarlet couldn't help but laugh at her and quickly made his way to his common room. As he arrived he quickly walked through and got to his dorm. Most were still up when he got in, he didn't pay any mind to them and grabbed his things and changed in the bathroom.

When he got to bed his mind drifted about his three new companions. What surprised him most was that he seemed to be getting along with people outside of his house. He started to think maybe he was sorted into the wrong house, he wasn't sure if Gryffindor was still the best for him, or if someone had forced him into it. Seemed like another thing to add to the list.

 **Authors Note:**

 **Hope you all enjoy the second chapter, you get an idea how all his classes are going. Next chapter will cover Halloween, I didn't want to just redo the scene from the books, so I did make it a bit different. Thanks again for reading, and I hope to hear your reviews.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling.**

Fresh Start

Chapter 3

It was a week till the Halloween feast and Scarlet were the happiest he's been since coming to Hogwarts. The past few weeks had him settling into a comfortable routine. On most days he would meet up with Daphne and Tracey after class, Greengrass still didn't trust him completely but she was warming up to him. Tracey already looked at him as if they'd been friends forever.

On days he didn't see them he was hanging out with Tonks and her friends instead. Scarlet had come a long way with his morph training thanks to her. In a month in a half he was able to morph his entire face for a short period of time, he couldn't change his height or weight yet, but he was coming along nicely.

Once a week he would hang out with Tonks and her friends, Jess, and Rebecca. Jess was the more serious one their trio, she was often having to pull the other two out of trouble. Tonks wasn't kidding when she said she lacked the ability to behave, at least long term. Rebecca and she were partners in crime, often causing trouble to the male population of Hogwarts.

He was currently on his way to meet Tonks, Scarlet found it odd she wanted to meet this early, usually, they met later in the evening, add to the fact it was a Hogsmeade weekend for older students, he wondered why wasn't she already on her way there?

Just as he was about to make the final turn in the hallway a certain brown-haired student came running around and bumped into him, knocking both of them on the floor. Scarlet was dazed for a moment before recognizing the student, Granger.

"Sorry." She mumbled before running off. Scarlet noticed she had tears in her eyes while running off; probably the victim of vicious jabs and taunts. Worst of all was that some of it were coming from their own house. Ron Weasley had not gotten along with Granger since day one, from what he could tell the anger had stemmed from jealousy. Hermoine had performed better than him on every subject, and the redhead had a temper on him when things didn't go his way. Scarlet still remembered the argument he got into with him.

XXX

 _Scarlet had just finished seeing Daphne and Tracey and was on his way to Gryffindor Tower, he wanted to take advantage of the common rooms comfy chairs for a good read. He had just walked in the common and settled down when he noticed someone approach him. Weasley was approaching him with a look of uncertainty on his face._

" _Is it true?" Weasley asked him standing right In front of him._

" _Be more specific Weasley." Scarlet wasn't in the mood for Weasley's idiocy._

" _You're bloody hanging out with slimy snakes!" He yelled, gathering everybody's attention._

" _Those are my friends you're insulting you git." Scarlet glared at him._

" _Those snakes aren't your friends, they're the enemy! They probably are trying to get our Quidditch teams secrets from you!" Weasley accused, pointing his finger in Scarlet's face._

 _Scarlet stood up from his seat, trying very hard not to express his growing anger on his face. "Listen you idiot, not everyone gives a damn about Quidditch." Most of the students gasped at his comment, but he didn't let it stop him. "Would you rather I spend my time with fellow lions who make comments about me behind my back. I know for a fact you Thomas, and Finnigan made up the nickname Ice King of Gryffindor, and Ice Queen of Slytherin about me and Greengrass." He saw a few lower their head in embarrassment._

" _We're just looking out for you, no one in Slytherin can be trusted." Weasley weakly defended himself._

" _I don't know where this heated rivalry started, but I'm having no part of it." He stormed out of his common room, not caring to continue this chat._

XXX

Since that argument he had kept an eye on Weasley, the redhead seemed like the type to result in violence if left with no other choice. However, for the past few weeks, nothing had happened. The only odd thing was when he and Potter came to their dorm past curfew muttering something about trap doors and a three-headed dog. Scarlet was too tired to care and thought nothing of it, kids and their active imagination.

He finally arrived at the entrance to the Great Hall and found Tonks leaning against the wall with a bag in her hand; she turned to him as soon as she saw him.

"Wotcher Scarlet! You took your time getting here." Tonks said.

"Sorry, literally bumped into a classmate on the way here, she didn't watch where she was going," Scarlet responded.

"Was she cute?" Tonks teased.

Scarlet had gotten used to Tonks teasing in the last couple weeks, it was what made her who she is. Though there would be odd times where her jokes got to him, this was not one of those times. "Didn't know you rode brooms for the other team Tonks?" Scarlet himself picked up a few things from his teacher.

"Oh there is still so much you can learn from me firstie, but enough about that. Follow me." Tonks led Scarlet to a classroom close by. Once they were inside she closed the door after them and threw him the bag she was carrying.

Scarlet looked inside, he found a pair of pants, a shirt, and finally. "Um, er…" The last item had Scarlet speechless and had his face matching his name. It was a bra. "Tonks, bloody explain this!" Scarlet shook the bag to empathies his statement.

"Well, its clothes, women's clothes to be exact," Tonks said as if she was talking about the weather.

"I know what they are! What the heck am I supposed to do with a bra!"

"Wear it of course." Tonks shrugged.

For the first time in his life, Scarlet Shade had been broken, no thoughts, no words to describe what he was going through.

"Oi! Don't give me that look, figured you'd be jumping for joy that I'm bringing you to Hogsmeade." Tonks said.

That drew Scarlet's attention, but how were women's clothes suppose to bring him to Hogsmeade? Then it hit him, he was going to disguise himself as an older student. But then why would he have to be a woman to do so?

"Don't know any bloke in Hogwarts as small as you, it is easier to transform into a lady instead. One of the older Hufflepuffs is sick and is unable to go, so you'll take her place" Tonks said sensing the unasked question in Scarlet's head.

"Can you turn around then, need to change." Scarlet was trying very hard to not let his blush show.

"I know you're a bloke and that its second-hand nature how to snap them, but I think you're too young to know how a bra works." Tonks teased.

Scarlet sighed in defeat, it wasn't that he was embarrassed to change in front of her, but because he didn't want her to see the scars that littered his chest, to say he had a rough life before coming to school would be a massive understatement. One the best things to come with becoming a Metamorphmagus was that he could hide them whenever he looked himself in the mirror each morning, he just hoped he could hold it long enough for Tonks not to notice.

Lucky enough it did hold and Tonks didn't notice a thing when snapping on the bra, he quickly changed into the pants and shirt and waited for Tonks approval.

"They seem like a perfect fit, the chest area is bit empty but were about to fix that." Tonks pulled out a photo of a student, who Scarlet assumed he would be trying morph into. He had a close look at the face, and then at her bust. _'Have to make sure it's the right size.'_ Once Scarlet got the image in his head he closed his eyes and concentrated. He could feel his body slowly changing starting with his hair getting longer, his nose widening a bit, his check bones becoming more prominent, and then finally his chest growing in size. He looked up at Tonks, who was holding out a mirror, he looked at his reflection and saw he was a perfect copy.

"This is joy most professors must feel for their students," Tonks said wiping an imaginary tear.

"Enough with the sentimental I don't know how long I can hold it, so let us go."

He rushed Tonks out of the classroom closing the door behind him. They made their way to the carriages and sat down, so far none of the professors had batted an eye when looking at him. _'Good, I'm must be getting better at this.'_ Once they started moving that's when he started to relax.

"So where are we going to first." He asked Tonks.

"Figure I could give you a tour of the place then finds a place to grab some lunch, have you every tried butterbeer?" Tonks asked excitingly.

"No I haven't but I guess today will be my first time."

"Most blokes remember their first time." She winked at him. Only to realize her joke had gone over Scarlet's head. It was easy to forget that he was only eleven.

Once they arrived Tonks grabbed Scarlet's hand and started dragging him into the many shops. They started out at Zonkos Joke shop; he heard George and Fred talk about it often, how they would cause them to run out of business by making their own shop. Scarlet wasn't much for gags and joke stuff, but he did find the sugar quills to be extremely appealing, he ended buying a few for himself, Tonks, even a few for Daphne and Tracey.

Next was his personal favorite, Honeydukes. Walking inside could give anyone an instance sweet tooth. There were shelves all over the store filled with nothing but sweets imaginable. Tonks squealed in delight beside him and started going through the different selections, often commentating to him, which he should most definitely try, and others that he shouldn't put near his mouth. They both walked out carrying bags full of sweets that Tonks was nice enough to shrink them, making it easier to carry.

They ended up going through a few more stores; Scarlet ended picking a few school supplies. Once the afternoon rolled around they walked over to Three Broomstick Inn for lunch. They managed to find a secluded booth in the corner; they quickly placed their order and once it arrived Tonks looked closely at Scarlet's reaction to tasting Butterbeer for the first time. He found it very pleasant maybe a bit strong, but he definitely enjoys it more as he got older. Then settled in a comfortable silence after their meals arrived, it was after it was done that they resumed chatting.

"Don't mean to pry but you had a lot more money than I thought a first year might have, parents giving you a big allowance?" Tonks asked.

"You don't know much about the Shade family do you?" Scarlet responded. He didn't talk much about his family but he felt comfortable giving his companion a few details.

"Naw, my father Ted Tonks was a muggleborn, and my mum Andromeda Tonks was a witch, so didn't really grow up in a traditional wizarding home." She responded finishing her drink.

"The Shade's isn't a long-standing house as other families, but were well off and hold some influence in our world."

"What are your parents like? I assume the whole family is pureblood? Mum is one too and talked about how stressful it can be growing up."

"We are as far as I'm aware, considering I'm not as arrogant as some people in my year I think I turned out well. As for them, they're occupied a lot." Scarlet was starting to hope this line of conversation would end soon; he didn't want Tonks prying too deep.

"Maybe we can we can introduce one another when we go home at the end of the year," Tonks suggested.

"Maybe." Scarlet knew it wouldn't happen.

XXX

A week passed by since Hogsmeade, and Scarlet was currently making his way towards Professor McGonagall's office; she had asked to speak with him after breakfast. He had a feeling this might happen. During one is his tutoring session Tonks had mentioned that the professors liked to meet up within the first few weeks and compare notes on the first years. He had a feeling she may have found about his lack of effort into making friends in his own house from Snape and Sprout.

He found his way to McGonagall's door and knocked.

"Come on." She announced on the other side, he opened the door. "Please have a seat." She had motioned to the empty chair across from her.

"Would you like some tea and biscuits?" She started levitating a tray towards them.

Scarlet nodded and grabbed the cup and the offered treats. McGonagall seemed to be in a pleasant mood, so it eased come of his concerns.

"How are you today Shade?" She asked.

"Doing well professor, finished my work for today, so I'm just enjoying my weekend." He took another sip of his tea.

"Mr. Shade, were outside the classroom and its only two of us, please call me Minerva." She replied.

"Only if you call me Scarlet, Minerva." Shade had a cheeky grin on his face.

"I believe that can be managed. I'm happy to see you're doing well in your courses." Scarlet could see she was sincere in her words. Scarlet wasn't used to seeing such care from adults, he had never received any from his parental figures.

"As soon as I received my letter, I spent most of my free time going through the standard books for my classes, glad to see it's paying off."

"You have displayed a remarkable skill for the subjects taught, I look forward to seeing you reach your potential in the next few years." Scarlet was stunned, he wasn't used to seeing his professor display such emotion to him. "Scarlet the bulk of the reason why I set up this meeting was to discuss your time spent outside the classroom. Seems you had me duped when it came to your social standing within the school. I'm unable to discuss the specifics of what your other professors have told me about you but safe to say I felt rather embarrassed when two other Head of Houses knew far more about you than I did." Scarlet noticed McGonagall's tone shift to a more hardened one.

"I apologize if I made you feel like that, it was never my intentions." Scarlet felt a bit guilty, he knew he should've corrected her at some point.

"Believe me Scarlet I'm happy that you've looked past house barriers and made friends with multiple students in Slytherin and Hufflepuff, in fact, 20 points to Gryffindor. I'm curious why you haven't formed any similar bonds with your fellow lions?" He felt better than McGonagall seemed genuinely curious and not upset at him.

He felt guilty about telling her his reasons; since he's walked in here she's been very kind to him, praising his study habits. _'How can I tell her no one in Gryffindor is worth getting to know. I have no common ground with the girls, Granger as intelligent as she is has proven to be very annoying, most of the boys have a one-track mind and that's Quidditch. I've already made friends with older students so there's nothing the ones in my house can offer me. Potter in a word is disappointing, posses no extraordinary skill in anything but flying."_ However since she had been honest with him, Scarlet felt he should reciprocate the sentiment, and so he expressed his earlier thoughts to Minerva. To her credit, she listened intently and didn't interrupt him at any point. Once Scarlet was finished he tried to gauge Minerva's reaction, but to her credit seemed to have the same ice mask ability as Daphne and was unable to read.

"I thank you for your honesty Scarlet, I implore all my students to do so. However, I feel as though you're not giving your peers a fair chance. Thus not only making them lose the chance to get to know the real you but also depriving yourself of genuine relationships if you continue to do so. I can tell you I have had presumptions on my peers, and have been gladly proven wrong once I got to know them."

This wasn't the first time he had this conversation, in a rare moment of seriousness Tonks had talked to him about this very same subject.

XXX

 _It was just after they finished their session and were walking back that Tonks asked Scarlet something that had been on her mind a lot recently._

" _How come you aren't friends with anyone in your house?" She asked._

 _Scarlet was caught off guard by her question, he'd never been asked about his lack of friends, more along of the line of his choice of company instead. Even though he knew her for only a short time he felt uncharacteristically trusting of Tonks, so he decided to share his feelings of his house to her._

" _Hmmm, I can somewhat see your point. Have you ever heard the expression_ _ **don't judge a book by its cover**_ _?"_

" _No." Scarlet answered._

" _It's a muggle expression. It means don't make judgments based on appearances without getting to know the person first. Be honest with me, before we first met would you have enjoyed the idea of spending a large amount of time with me?" Scarlet's first reaction was to say yes, but thinking back to when he first saw her pink hair pop out from underneath the desks, he knew his answer was no._

" _No offense but I would've dreaded it." Scarlet said meekly._

" _None taken. Some people take awhile to handle all my awesomeness at once." She pointed her nose in the air in a dignified manner. Or at least it would've been dignified if she didn't immediately trip over her own robe and fall face first into the ground._

 _Scarlet couldn't help but chuckle at her. Trust Tonks to be serious one moment, and switch tones the next. "Yes Tonks, how did you ever find out?" He said sarcastically while helping her up._

" _Like I said, its one of my many gifts." She winked at him once upright. "Back on topic, give them a chance, I promise you they'll surprise you."_

" _Bad surprise? I agree." Scarlet nodded._

" _That's not what I meant you prat." She playfully smacked his arm._

" _Fine, fine, I'll try." Scarlet conceded._

XXX

Scarlet was pulled away from the memory when Minerva continued talking.

"The point I'm trying to address is that maybe you should make an effort to get to know your housemates. Take Ms. Granger, for instance, she's someone like you I've been worried about making friendships with her housemates. Perhaps if you formed a relationship with her she may pull back on her eagerness to prove herself every day." Minerva pointed out.

He felt she brought up a valid point, Scarlet was rather one-sided on his thoughts that he didn't consider the influence he could have on them. _'Granger may become less annoying if she had a friend in her corner, maybe even cause her housemates to stop bullying her.'_

"I promise I'll try better at making friends with them." Scarlet sighed in defeat.

"Thank you, Scarlet, the Headmaster will be pleased to hear about this." McGonagall had a rare smile on her face.

"Headmaster? What would he have to do about this?" Once again it seemed Dumbledore was taking an interest in him, he still wasn't sure why.

"Albus was the one that pushed for me to have this discussion with you. Not to worry, you aren't in trouble with him." McGonagall said.

The rest of their talk went well, she had discussed with him some of the electives he would take in a few years when Scarlet had asked. What Scarlet found hilarious was her clear disdain for Divination, and she made him promise not to even consider wasting his time taking it. "A student of such potential shouldn't spend his time prophesizing his own death!" Scarlet couldn't help but burst out laughing at that comment. His time with McGonagall was a rare time he had a positive interaction with an adult. When he'd asked if they could continue these meetings she had gladly accepted.

XXX

It was the long-awaited Halloween feast at Hogwarts and almost everyone in the castle was buzzing with excitement. The ghosts seem a bit more jovial; the Weasley twins were upping their pranks, going from once a week to almost every day. Peeves the ghost seemed a lot more eager to give every a heaping dose of water balloons. The charm of the month was easily the drying one.

While most students were heading towards the Great Hall, Scarlet found himself in the dungeons, specifically waiting in Professors Snape's office. He had received a letter telling him to come here, seemed his plan in potions had backfired, instead of receiving criticisms in class, he was now the subject of a one on one session with the man. _'Idiot.'_ He chided himself.

The doors opened and the man himself appeared. Snape didn't have his usual sneer when in the presence of any student outside his house, which Scarlet hoped bode well for him. "Mr. Shade I don't usually waste my time on matters outside of my house, however, you have proven yourself to be, a unique circumstance." Scarlet couldn't help but fidget in his seat. "I've been aware of what you've been doing since your second class. Upon discovery of your actions I was fully prepared to deduct your house a vast amount of points, and hand out the most severe detentions." Scarlet could only stare ahead at him; too numb to really process anything, he would not show his professor any weakness. Wouldn't give Snape the satisfaction.

"However. Upon a lengthy discussion with Dumbledore, and with Ms. Greengrass, and Ms. Davis, I have chosen to pursue a different action." That peaked Scarlets interest, his housemates had told him many tales of Snape's biased punishment. From what he learned, Snape wasn't a man to show mercy, or leniency to anyone outside of Slytherin. "What action is that?" Scarlet couldn't help but ask. He noticed a slight twitch in the corner of his lips. "Why nothing." Scarlet merely raised an eyebrow at that.

"What action is that?" Scarlet couldn't help but ask. He noticed a slight twitch in the corner of his lips. "Why nothing." Scarlet merely raised an eyebrow at that.

"Why nothing." Scarlet merely raised an eyebrow at that.

So far this was the second conversation where he heard Dumbledore speaking about him, how did the man know so much about him?

"As been pointed out to me by my snakes, you have displayed such a plan that displayed traits that would make any Slytherin proud, it would be hypocritical of me to punish you." Was that a compliment? Professor Snape actually complimented him!? "You've peaked my interest Shade. As you are aware I was involved in a meeting with your headmaster and the other Head of Houses. It was the first time in a long time I saw McGonagall flustered by the actions of her own lion, I took great satisfaction in watching." Scarlet knew Professor McGonagall had been duped by his actions, but he didn't realize how embarrassed she must've felt learning about his actions from other Head of Houses.

"5 points to Gryffindor." Wait, Snape actually gave someone outside his house points? Maybe Snape wasn't as biased as he thought. "10 points taken from Gryffindor for disrespecting your professor." Ah, there was the Snape everyone hated. Snape started to get off from his seat indicating the meeting was over. Scarlet got up, nodded at his professor and walked out Snape's office.

Scarlet wasn't sure what to make of his meeting, he got the impression he was on Snape's good side at least. He knew the man didn't hate him as much as other students in his house. _'Didn't plan on Snape catching on to me, but if I can maintain a neutral relationship with him, that'll be fine.'_

His musings were cut off when he heard someone crying. Scarlet looked around, he was still in the dungeons, but he thought everyone was at the Great Hall enjoying the feast. He listened closely he could definitely hear crying, he started walking closer to the door, when he finally got close to it he could distinguish it being a girl crying. But it seemed familiar, then it hit him, it was Granger.

He started walking away; she wasn't injured, so there was no point in going in there. But then his earlier conversations with Minerva and Tonks came to mind. He had planned on approaching Granger at some point, he just imagined it involving fewer tears, and not being in a girls lavatory. He tried again to walk further away, but the nagging voice in his head started getting louder. Finally fed up, he started marching back to the lavatory. _'I have no idea how to console a crying child. Do you rub its head, its back? Hug? No, no, no, ugh trying to make friends is so hard.'_

He slowly opened the door, it was empty, Granger must've been in one of the stalls. Scarlet walked slowly inside and along the stalls trying to find the one housing her. He eventually found the right one and was about to knock on the door, but he hesitated. _'Last chance, please, please stop crying, it'll make it so much easier.'_ Scarlet silently pleaded. When it was clear she wasn't going to, he sighed and knocked on the stall door.

That immediately silenced the girl on the other side; clearly she thought hiding in the dungeons during dinnertime would give her privacy. "Hello? Are you alright?" Scarlet berated himself for the way he sounded. "Please go away!" She cried out. _'I tried to'_

"Clearly you aren't, listen. I've felt what it's like to be at odds with your house, the nicknames, the chatter behind your back." Scarlet must've been saying the right things as Granger had stopped sniffing at that point. "But you know what, it's because they don't understand us, I've seen your work, you're very intelligent, more intelligent than any of these idiots. If you need someone in your corner, I can be that person." Scarlet was never one for word vomit, but even he was surprised at how much he was saying.

It was a full minute after he was done talking that he heard her handle the lock and open the door. Her eyes widened when she saw Scarlet on the other side, she had heard the rumors, and had interacted with him at one point; she didn't strike him as the comforting type. But at that point the rumors didn't matter to her, she opened the door fully and flung herself at him, engulfing him in a tight hug crying again.

She nearly knocked Scarlet over but he steadied himself, he couldn't help but flinch at the form of contact, he was never one for physical contact, but slowly he reacted and wrapped his arms around her. She kept crying for over 5 minutes before she finally calmed down.

"Thank you, that really means a lot to me." She started wiping her eyes with her robe.

"No problem, if you don't mind me asking what was it this time?" Scarlet asked.

"Ron started to make fun of me for showing him up at charms class. He was going to poke someone's eye out, I just wanted to show him the correct incantation." She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Your head was in a good place, if he's too stubborn to accept the help then let him fail." Scarlet comforted. "Come on Granger, let's go to the Great Hall and enjoy the feast, you'll be under my protection. " Granger laughed at his joke and started walking with him into the hallway. "Please call me Hermione." She offered her hand. "I think I can manage that, only if you call me Scarlet." He shook her hand, glad to see her mood improving.

They had gotten halfway out of the dungeons when two students ran into them around the corner knocking all of them onto the floor. Scarlet was starting to get sick of people knocking him off his feet. His annoyance only increased when he saw who it was. "Potter, Weasley!" He glared at them; they were the cause of Hermione's current distress.

"What are you doing here Scarlet!" Weasley said getting off the floor, both he and Potter were shocked to see him. "Escorting Hermoine back to the Great Hall, no thanks to you both." Both boys looked down at his accusation. Suddenly Potter looked up remembering why he and Ron were there.

"We have to get out of here, there's a Troll in the dungeon!" He exclaimed. Scarlet scoffed at him, there was no way a Troll could find its way into Hogwarts.

"Hilarious Potter, but I'm not gullible enough to fall for your and Weasley's joke." Scarlet grabbed Hermione's hand and started leading both of them away. They didn't get very far before they noticed a foul stench in the air. "Really Weasley, you set off one the twins gags-" Scarlet was interrupted as Hermoine pointed a shaking finger down the hall. Scarlet followed her gaze and saw the source of the smell. _'Bloody hell!'_

As if it heard Scarlet's mental shouting the troll turned around, upon spotting four new victims yelled out a vicious roar and charged towards them, a club in hand. "Run!" Scarlet yelled pulling on Hermione's hand and running the opposite direction, with Potter and Weasley following close behind. With all four being in Gryffindor house none of them were familiar with the dungeons. They didn't get very far as they ended up at a dead end, with the troll closing in.

"Know any spells Hermoine?" Weasley asked terrified. "Afraid not, even if I did the troll's skin is very thick, it would have to be something really powerful to cut through." Even facing death Hermoine could spit out facts at ease.

"Afraid not, even if I did the troll's skin is very thick, it would have to be something really powerful to cut through." Even facing death Hermoine could spit out facts at ease.

Once the troll reaches them it threw its club overhead at them, they all jumped out of the way. Before Scarlet could even formulate a plan, Potter had grabbed onto the club when the troll was pulling it back. He ended up letting go and landed on the troll's head. The troll tried to shake Harry off, but he held on.

"Just hold on Harry we'll think of something!" Weasley yelled in support.

Scarlet looked desperately around there had to be something, but there were just paintings. He then spotted debris from the cracked stone floor; there was a sharp jagged piece of concrete. "Potter hold its eye open when I give the signal! Hermoine do you remember charms class today!" Scarlet yelled. The glare Hermoine sent him said yes. "Use the levitation charm on that piece of concrete, when I give the signal fire it at its eye." She nodded and cast the charm holding it in mid-air.

"What are you going to do?" Weasley asked.

"Going to give the signal," Scarlet responded, inside he was nervous, he never cast the spell as powerful as he'd need it to be. Scarlet could see the troll trying to shake Potter; he knew he had to act now.

Pointing his wand at the Trolls feet Scarlet yelled "Glacius!" A blue light of cold air shot out of his wand engulfing the trolls feet and stone floor, once the light dissipated the entire area was replaced with ice; the troll was locked in place! Potter grabbed the troll's eyelid with both hands and opened them wide. Hermoine seeing it fired the rock at it, hitting it perfectly, but the troll was still alive! "Hermoine put more power into it!" Scarlet yelled.

"I'm trying!" she yelled.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Weasley yelled joining in. With their combined power, Scarlet could see the rock moving further and further into the troll's skull until suddenly something snapped. The troll stopped moving for few moments, everyone holding their breath in anticipation when suddenly the troll starting leaning forward. Potter jumped off right before it landed face first on the ground. Scarlet slowly walked over to it, hoping it was finally over.

"Is it dead?" Hermoine asked nervously a few feet away.

Scarlet hesitantly kicked it in the head, when he saw no response he sighed in relief. "It's dead." He confirmed.

Before the group of Gryffindors could sit down and relax almost all of their professors popped up around the corner attracted by all the commotion they caused.

"Oh dear." Professor McGonagall was one of the first to arrive; the first thing she noticed was the downed troll. Scarlet could see the confusion on her face, as she looked at the four of them then down to the troll. "Someone better explain right now." Professor McGonagall said as the other professors got to the scene.

Scarlet wasn't sure what to say, the entire thing was so absurd, how in bloody hell did a troll get deep inside Hogwarts.

He noticed Weasley and Potter spout some gibber trying to come up with a reasonable excuse without getting them in trouble. He wasn't sure what to make of their appearance tonight. They were the cause of Hermione's distress tonight, but the fact they came down here to warn her showed they felt guilt by their actions. But one good deed doesn't own up to two months of bullying. Scarlet still didn't classify them as friends after this incident but he would be keeping a closer eye on them. He felt Hermoine would probably give them a second chance after this, Scarlet had to think she wasn't used to seeing this type of kindness from people close to her age, and would probably stick close to them. Scarlet figured he at least owed them for the warning and prepared to bail them out.

"It's my fault professor, I had a previous engagement with professor Snape and had asked Hermoine wait for me close by so that we could go to the feast together. Seemed I got lost trying to make my way to her as by the time we saw one another, Potter and Weasley stumbled by to warn us of a troll in the dungeons. That's when we encountered it." Scarlet indicated by kicking the troll in the head again. "We stabbed it in the eye with the levitation charm, thanks again for the lesson professor Flitwick." He nodded towards the short professor, who seemed intrigued by both the use of levitation and ice charms against the troll.

Scarlet looked at each professor for their reaction, Quirrel seemed even more on edge lately, looked like he was about to break, though it may be because of the man beside him. Snape, when he wasn't sneering, was hard to gauge, though because of everyone's attention on the troll, no one but Scarlet was able to notice the tension between him and Quirrel. McGonagall seemed relieved that her students were okay, and maybe a small amount of pride in her eyes.

Dumbledore was the one that caught him off guard, as instead of looking at the troll or conversing with his colleagues he was looking right at Scarlet. If Snape was difficult to read, then Dumbledore was nearly impossible, he was staring at Scarlet intently with no usual twinkle in his eye, but after a few seconds a smile formed on the man's face and nodded at him. Scarlet wasn't sure what happened but he thought he felt a slight tingle in his head, he would dismiss this feeling now, but later in life would realize what happened.

"Processor Quirrel, since DADA is your subject of expertise you'll make sure to take care of troll." Dumbledore asked.

"Ye-ye-yes, sir! Ri-Ri-right away!" Quirrel nodded.

"Now you four." Professor McGonagall said bringing said fours attention. "I would've like that none of you had to fight a grown mountain troll, because most wizards and witches don't live to tell the tale. However, since you were forced into this situation, and displayed a great display of magic. 10 points to Gryffindor each." That brightened Potter and Weasley immensely. "For sheer dumb luck," McGonagall concluded. That brought their excitement down a bit, but both was extremely happy.

"I trust you all know the way to the Gryffindor common room from here?" Dumbledore asked them. Hermoine nodded and started leading the three of them back to their tower.

There was a bit of awkward silence amongst them walking through the empty hallways. Scarlet didn't really care to socialize with the other two boys. Just because they survived a life and death situation didn't mean they were all going to become the closest friend and become a golden group.

"Thank you." Hermoine said breaking the silence.

"No problem Hermoine were just sorry we didn't come find you sooner." Potter said he nudged Weasley getting him to talk.

"Yeah, sorry about earlier in class, what you said about the lesson helped against the troll. Maybe all of us could study together? Weasley lowered his head, clearly, he wasn't used to apologizing.

"Hermoine we could really use your help, remember the trap door?" Potter asked. That caused Scarlet to raise an eyebrow. _'What's he talking about?'_

"Th- That would be great." Hermoine's mood seemed to have improved in just over an hour. Scarlet knew he wouldn't have to worry about Granger for a while, seemed she made two new friends, he started walking off leaving the golden trio on their own.

"Scarlet!" Scarlet turned around and saw the trio running after him, Potter leading them and being the one that called him. "Would you care to study with us?" Potter asked.

"No." He turned around and continued walking. He already had associates he studied with, the only one in Gryffindor who could help him would be Granger, but she was currently occupied with the other two.

"Don't bother Harry, he'd rather stick with those slimy snakes." At this point Scarlet just tuned out Weasley's bashing of Slytherin house, it was his constant showing of immaturity that he was sure he'd never be a friend with Weasley. Potter was still disappointing, although he didn't partake in Hermoine's bullying, he still chose to be friends with ones that did.

"If you ever want to study with my _slimy snakes_ or one on one, just let me know Hermoine," Scarlet told her before walking off. The next few months would prove whether he made the right choice in associating with Granger. She seemed very intelligent but her lack of knowledge of the wizarding world, and general social skills held her back greatly if she proved not being able to then he still had Greengrass, and to a lesser extent Davis as a backup.

 **Authors Note: So we finally see Scarlet interacting with the Golden Trio, but it'll be a long time before he considers them friends. Also saw him interacting one on one with a few different characters, I thought about including the professor's discussion of Scarlet but felt it didn't fit, figured I'd save Dumbledore for the end of this story. In terms of pairing, he and Hermoine will not get together later on, but their relationship throughout the stories will be important for Scarlet.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling.**

 **Warning: Scarlet's backstory is discussed and some of the content might be disturbing, nothing too graphic.**

Fresh Start

Chapter 4

School life had settled down after Halloween, of course, rumors had circulated to what happened, but like the media, it was 25% truthful, and 75% rubbish.

Tonks had cornered Scarlet during their first session after Halloween and all but forced the truth out of him. She squealed in delight and crushed him in a hug when she learned about him comforting a crying girl, said she was right about him being a future ladies man.

Daphne and Tracey hadn't talked to him about it, though Scarlet felt it was because they were always in a public, so it wasn't surprising that when he was escorting Daphne to the Slytherin common room before curfew that she finally asked him about the eventful evening.

"What happened on Halloween Shade?" She asked.

"Why are you interested, Greengrass? Were you worried about me?" Scarlet couldn't help but be cheeky around Greengrass, he enjoyed watching her mask break by causing her to be irritated with him.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm merely curious how a golden boy, Weasel, bookworm, and you were able to survive a mountain troll. I will be disappointed if all you said was that you four ran away." Scarlet knew that just like him she saw the benefit of being in each other's social circles, they both came from powerful houses. The Shades may have suffered 10 years ago, but with him as heir when he reached majority would be in a powerful position.

"We did run away." Scarlet said keeping an even tone. Daphne just raised an eyebrow at him. Scarlet felt he had enough fun and recounted the events, to Daphne's credit she didn't interrupt or even visibly react, but Scarlet noticed her eyes widen slightly when he reached the part about him casting the ice charm. When he had finished she was quiet for a few moments.

"Impressive, you do realize a Glacius as powerful as you describe isn't normally capable of a first year?" He was right, that part of the story did interest her.

"I had to dig into some of my Gryffindor bravery to even attempt my plan." Daphne had always joked that Gryffindor and their bravery would get most of them killed in life. Seemed she was more right than Scarlet realized.

"If you formulate a well thought out plan than you don't need bravery, but that's not what I'm talking about. One of the things that stand out most about you these past two months is your power. Don't get me wrong Shade you're an excellent student, nowhere near me of course." Daphne smirked at him.

"Obviously." Scarlet nodded, with slight amusement.

"You have to admit you end up overdoing most of your spells, constantly needing to reign back a bit." She had brought up a fair point. Looking back Scarlet tended to overdo a few spells, an example being charms class on his first day involving an extra bright Lumos.

"What you said is true, but what's your point? Afraid I'm going to overperform a dangerous spell and injure you?" Scarlet wasn't sure where this conversation was heading.

"One of many concerns I assure you, but that's not what I'm addressing. I'm addressing the fact that maybe you're a cloth cut above the rest, it may do you well in learning spells above your year." Scarlet had never thought of studying years ahead of him, he was already overwhelmed with his current studies, and his lessons with Tonks, but he was now curious how well he'd handle the spells at a higher level.

"I'm guessing you're telling me this because it's coming from the bottom of your ice cold heart?" Scarlet grinned at her, they both dislike their ice nicknames but didn't mind calling each other on it.

Daphne took a step towards him, invading his personal space somewhat. "If we're going to continue this alliance between House Greengrass, and House Shade, then it pays for me to have a powerful ally, in more ways than one."

He couldn't help but give a genuine smile at her, to anyone listening, it may look like Greengrass was simply being cold and detached, but Daphne was actually in her own way showing concern for him and helping him reach his potential. "It's more than that, I'm not exactly sure, but there's something about the cold element that makes me feel comfortable."

"Certain wizards and witches can specialize in an element, for example, Veelas can produce more powerful spells with fire. Suggest you look into it" She mused.

"Well thank you, Ms. Greengrass, for this educational lesson, you've certainly given me a lot to think about." He bowed dramatically.

"Careful Mr. Shade, I know how difficult it is for lions to think, all that brash and action first mentality." She chided him, with a small smirk on her face.

"Would you rather I not charge head first into battle if you find yourself facing a troll?" Scarlet drawled, Tonks was a bad influence on him; he was enjoying teasing people way too much.

"Hmmm, now you've given me a lot of think about. Good night Scarlet." She said.

"Goodnight Daphne." Scarlet walked away he could feel her eyes on him until he turned a corner. Daphne may have called what they have an alliance, but he knew she was slowly warming up to the idea of companionship.

XXX

If Scarlet had to describe Hogwarts in one word, boring would definitely be last on the last. It was his first time going to a Quidditch match, classic Gryffindor vs Slytherin. He wasn't sure why he had gone in the first place, the game didn't interest him, but Hermoine had practically dragged him to the stands.

The game had started out well for Gryffindor they held onto the Quaffle for the first part of the match, he could admire the skill went into playing the sport. Then it started to get nasty, Slytherin started to bend the rules, a vicious taunt here, an extra jab there, no doubt in anyone's mind the rivalry was still going strong outside of the classroom.

But the excitement came when Potters broom had a mind of its own and was trying to buck him off. Hermoine had pointed them to the teachers stand; apparently, Snape wasn't blinking and was mouthing the curse. Scarlet knew the man hated Potter but didn't think he would resort to killing the boy, he looked around for the main cause and saw Quirrell was the exact same a few seats away. He didn't know if they were working together or one was mouthing the counter curse but both needed to stop at the same time.

He led Granger and Weasley over to underneath the teachers stand and coordinated with Granger to cast an Incendio spell. Both her and Weasley were adamant it was Snape being the cause but there was no way of knowing, and Scarlet didn't have time to argue lest they let Potter fall and die.

The plan worked as both flames distracted their targets and Potters broom calmed down, seemed the excitement died down at that point, as soon after he caught the golden snitch and ended the game. Hermoine and Weasley immediately ran off to talk to Potter about what happened. Meanwhile Scarlet had someone else he needed to talk to.

It was at that point that Scarlet found himself in the all too familiar dungeons, specifically right outside Snape's office. He was taking a chance confronting the man, he may have been trying to kill Potter and would just end up killing him, but he felt safe that it was Quirrell instead. He just needed Snape to confirm his theory.

He knocked on the door holding his breath. "Come in." A voice said on the other side. Scarlet opened the door and found Snape sitting at his desk.

"You don't strike me as the person to gloat on your houses accomplishment, I assure you say one word that I don't agree with and the detention I give you will be the utmost severity." Scarlet chided himself for coming straight from the game, of course with Slytherin losing and catching Snape on fire, the man wouldn't be in a good mood. ' _But then again when was Snape ever in a good mood_.' Scarlet silently chuckled to himself.

"It's not about the final outcome, but at a certain moment." Scarlet noticed a Snape about to say something and quickly continued. "It's about when Potters broom became cursed." That stopped whatever his professor was about to say. " I saw you weren't blinking and you were mouthing something, I looked a few feet away and saw Quirrell doing the same. My theory and correct me if I'm wrong is that Quirrell was the cause behind the brooms hectic behavior, and you were mouthing the counter curse. I don't know what the cause is behind your dislike for Potter but I doubt you'd kill the boy, especially so publically." He stopped to let his words sink in. Snape still didn't say anything and merely looked back at him, Scarlet couldn't help but feel a slight tingle in his head, but he shook off the feeling.

Snape finally got off his seat and went over to his cabinet. Scarlet sighed in relief when he saw his professor pull out a bottle of whiskey, Firewhiskey to be exact. He poured himself a glass and sat down back in his seat. "I must commend you on your ability to survey the situation at hand, you're much brighter than any Gryffindor I've ever taught. Your theory is correct."

"Then the question is why hasn't professor Quirrell been apprehended by Aurors? I don't imagine Dumbledore would willingly let his staff endanger his student's." Scarlet wasn't sure why Dumbledore hadn't done anything, if he could figure it out, then the Headmaster must be aware of the situation.

"You've proven yourself to be very intelligent, try to see if you can figure it out." Snape mused. Scarlet had a slight chuckle; his professor was never one to give out the answers, especially to a Gryffindor student. _'Why continue to let Quirrell stay in Hogwarts unless to keep him here. But why?'_ It was then Scarlet remembered something from the first day. Dumbledore had warned students away from a certain room. ' _Could there be something in there very important, something very important to Quirrell? But if so why bring attention by making a huge announcement? Unless….'_ "Dumbledore set a trap." Scarlet realized it all made sense.

Snape didn't say anything right away, merely sipping his drink and staring at Scarlet, contemplating what to say. "Seems Albus's praises for you was well placed. The headmaster knew of Quirrell's goal before the term and asked a select few professors to set up traps to protect a certain object. The goal is to catch your professor in the act and learn of his intentions with said object." Scarlet was extremely surprised at how honest Snape was being with him, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Not that I'm not appreciative of this honesty, but why tell me? Why not a student you trust?" Scarlet argued.

"As you noticed on Halloween there's tension between myself and Quirrell, he's guarded around me. He won't suspect I've employed a student especially one from Gryffindor to assist me." Snape explained.

"What exactly do you want me to do?" Scarlet asked he was unsure how a first year could help?

"You can't help," Snape said, answering Scarlet's silent question. "You can, however, can keep an eye on him, as a student you have a reason to be in the same room as him." Snape explained finishing his second glass of whiskey. Scarlet agreed with his professor's idea, he was only 11, there wasn't much he could do, but then he remembered what Hermoine and the two boys were up to. While studying together she had told him what the trio was up to. They would probably ruin the plan.

"A warning, I know for a fact Granger, Weasley, and Potter are doing their own investigation, they know the three-headed dog is guarding something, and they suspect it's you after the object because of your limp," Scarlet warned, he could actually see the professor's mouth twitch in amusement.

"They will be of no concern, I'll have Malfoy keep an eye on them next term. Knowing you Gryffindor's and your ignorance to do the right thing, they'll find themselves after curfew, where they will be punished and then out of the way." Snape explained. Scarlet felt bad about possibly getting the three in trouble, but ultimately they'd do more harm than good if they continued.

"Thank you, professor, for your time, good evening." Scarlet got from his seat and bowed; quickly making his way out of the potions master office.

"One piece of advice." Snape said from across the office. "Don't look professor Quirrell in the eye." He then turned his head back to the papers on the desk; he clearly wasn't going to elaborate on what he just said.

Even though it ended with Snape's ominous warning, Scarlet still felt well after his chat with Snape, at least proving the Headmaster was competent in his position. Though it would make himself nervous interacting with Quirrell again. As long as he didn't start stuttering Scarlet was sure the DADA professor wouldn't suspect a thing.

XXX

It was the final Hogsmeade weekend for the year, and Tonks had promised Scarlet it would be the best yet. The first time Tonks had brought him, it was a very enjoyable experience, the second time they were joined by her friends Jess and Rebecca, and they were a pleasant company to be around, especially since Tonks diverted her teasing amongst the two of them, instead of just focusing on just him.

Scarlet was curious though, Tonks had asked him to carry with him the second set of clothes, sleepwear, and a large amount of money. He figured that maybe Tonks and company would be camping out inside the Shrieking Shack, they'd often talk about exploring it one day. Since it was their last year at Hogwarts they finally found the guts to do so. Scarlet didn't know how to feel about that, it had started snowing, even though the cold didn't affect him as much as most people, it would still be an unpleasant experience for him.

When he saw the first group of students in the hallway, he quickly morphed into his disguise. Seemed the student he was disguised as was busy studying for her OWLS, their loss was Scarlet's gain. He soon found the three of them by the entrance dressed in winter gear.

"Wotcher Scarlet!" Tonk beamed, she seemed extra excited today.

"Morning Scarlet." Jess and Rebecca said in unison.

"Morning ladies, what's the plan for today?" Scarlet asked.

'Nu-uh, not until we get there." Tonks wagged her finger in Scarlet's face, she started leading them into the carriages, and the four got settled in nicely before it started moving on its own.

"I still think it's a bad idea, were already putting him at risk by bringing him to Hogsmeade, if we get caught doing this every one of us will be in serious trouble, I don't have time to deal with detention I have NEWTS to study for!?" Jess seemed on edge; whatever Tonks had planned must've been serious.

"Relax, we didn't get caught last time, and now we know what we're doing." Rebecca placed a hand on Jess's shoulder to calm her down. Scarlet wasn't sure what to make of what was about to happen, but he figured he'd wait to give his opinion before commenting on the severity of their plan.

They finally got off their carriage and started walking, Scarlet noticed they didn't bother stopping at any of the shops, they weren't even heading in the direction of the Shrieking Shack, they were going into the forest. _'Where the bloody hell are we going Tonks?'_

They finally stopped in the middle of a clearing, Tonks looked around at her surroundings. She soon seemed satisfied with their location. "Okay, we made it."

Scarlet looked around, it was just clearing, nothing special. "Wow, your big surprise is a clearing in the middle of the woods. Has Christmas come early?" Scarlet deadpanned.

"You'll soon be eating those words when you see where we're going," Tonks smirked at him. "Rebecca since you have the most experience you'll apparate with Scarlet." Rebecca nodded and grabbed onto his arm.

"Apparate? What is that?" Scarlet had seen the word once or twice in his textbook but never found the answer.

"It's a means of transportation outside of using a floo call. You'll learn how to do so in your 6th year." Jess explained.

Scarlet didn't have time to ask further as he and Rebecca apparated. What all three ladies failed to explain was that side-apparition was a nasty experience. When they arrived at their location Scarlet fell down landing on his hands and knees with last nights dinner ready to come up. He took a minute to compose himself and slowly got up.

"Impressive, last time we apparated with someone they vomited, it was hilarious." Tonks laughed at him.

"Yes, I'm finding the feeling of nausea to be very amusing." Scarlet clutched his stomach. When he finally noticed his surroundings he saw that they were in an alley. "Where are we?" He asked, hoping to finally receive an answer.

"Were in London!" Tonks cheered jumping up and down in excitement.

"What?" That caught Scarlet off guard; muggle London was the last place he expected her surprise to be. Then he remembered Tonks asking him to exchange his coins for muggle currency a few weeks back, which should've been a big indicator to him.

"I figured since you were raised in a pureblood home you never got a chance to explore muggle London. Now you have the entire weekend to do so." Tonks said putting an arm around his shoulders and pushing him out of the alleyway. The thing was that Scarlet had explored muggle London before, with some less than friendly muggles, but they didn't need to know that.

"But won't someone notice that were missing? Especially a first year?" Scarlet was starting to get a little nervous.

"Thank you! I'm glad Tonks hasn't corrupted common sense out of you Scarlet." Jess complimented him. Tonks only stuck out her tongue back at Jess.

"It's the weekend, people will only get suspicious if were absent for classes, don't worry." Rebecca said beside him.

"Famous last words." Jess shook her head at her two friends antics.

Once they popped out of the alleyway Scarlet got a good look at their surroundings. They had apparated into the heart of London, the streets and road were both packed; it was a miracle they weren't noticed. Jess then grabbed his hand and both were following Tonks and Rebecca. He can appreciate that Jess wanted to be responsible for him, but to hold his hand while walking through the streets made him feel like a child, even if he technically was one.

After a few minutes of walking through the streets the group arrived at a hotel, Tonks requested a small room for them, since they were only going to be there for one night. They quickly dropped off their bags and were once again walking on through the streets.

"First things first, shopping for clothes. Scarlet, I don't know why your mother hated you when she picked out your clothes, but you're in a desperate need of a makeover." Rebecca said while her eyes roamed up and body his body.

Scarlet had to admit clothing wasn't that high of a priority to him. Learning how to read, write, and feed himself was the bulk of his concern.

"Oooooooh this is going to be so much fun." Tonk had a dangerous glint in her eye looking at Scarlet. He couldn't help but take a step back.

"I'm starting to think that Jess is right, I'm sure my absence will be-" Before Scarlet could even finish Tonks had grabbed his left arm, and Rebecca had grabbed his right and were dragging him to the first clothing shop they saw. He looked at Jess and pleaded for her to help him, but all she offered was an apologetic shrug. He hopefully thought that maybe shopping wouldn't be that bad.

Shopping was bad, very bad. Okay maybe not too bad, just very time consuming Scarlet felt. The ladies had him model different outfits. Add in the fact that he was a metamorphmagus they had picked out clothing's he would fit in as he got older, and or could shape his body into if he felt like it. So that had taken an additional amount of time. After they were done the three ladies went on their own for their personal shopping. Scarlet had alternated between accompanying each one after an hour; he noticed each one had a different style they enjoyed.

Jess was rather conservative in her attire, picking choices that didn't show much skin, but gave her the appearance of someone to be taken very professionally. Rebecca was a bit more rebellious in her clothing. Choosing ones that were a bit more showing, and had a few tears. Tonks, on the other hand, was all over the board. From not only different colors, but also different type of clothing and styles, not trying to coordinate any outfits. When asked all she said was "I make anything look good."

After they had finished Jess had suggested a quiet pizzeria close by, and that's where they were currently settled down, the girls were able to shrink all their bags and fit them in their pockets to make it easier to move around the city.

"So Scarwet 'hat do you 'hink of muggle London so fur?" Tonks asked while chewing on a pizza. Jess had slapped her arm for her less than desirable table manners.

"Were not in school, please don't embarrass us in public." Jess chastised. Tonks merely shrugged and took another bite of her slice.

"It's a lot more crowded than Diagon Alley, but there is so much to see, I think come summer break I'll have to spend a few more days exploring." Even though they had been shopping for the most part, Scarlet had surprisingly enjoyed his day so far.

"I was the same way, only was so jealous of muggles over the vast selection of clothing they had," Jess interjected while cutting her slice into pieces.

"We'll probably spend all of tomorrow morning and afternoon here before returning to school. Don't forget we still need to do some Christmas shopping before we go on break." Rebecca supplied. Scarlet had completely forgotten about Christmas shopping, he'd never had a reason to buy gifts for anyone, but now that he's made several acquaintances, he figured it would be best to buy them gifts.

"What are you doing for your holidays, Jess?" Tonks asked finally satisfied finishing her meal.

"Rebecca's and I's families are traveling to New York City in America. Apparently, it's supposed to be really festive on New Years." Jess answered.

"Don't suppose you can stow me in your luggage, I'm stuck with a quiet Christmas with my parents." Tonks pouted, clearly, she had hoped to see her best friends while on break.

"If we put you in our luggage, you'd put us over the weight limit!" Jess joked, causing Rebecca and her to break out laughing at the joke.

"Oi! I'd have you know I weigh less than both of you!" Tonks exclaimed.

"At the amount of pizza you just ate, doubt it." Scarlet smirked at her. That had caused Rebecca and Jess to laugh even harder at their pink haired friend. Tonk just continued to pout, and grumble at how mean her friends were for picking on her figure.

"What about you Scarlet? What do your parents have planned for holidays?" Jess asked when she finally settled down. That caused Scarlet to freeze mid-bite, he tried to quickly think of something to say.

"Well, you see. Um. Nothing special, very boring in fact, just like Tonks said quiet Christmas." Scarlet hopped the girls didn't ask any follow-up questions.

"Nothing wrong with that, sometimes nice and quiet is better-" Jess was interrupted by a commotion near the entrance.

"DEMON!" yelled a voice; Scarlet couldn't see what was going on.

"DEMON!" The voice yelled, now closer. Scarlet felt his stomach drop when he recognized the voice. _'No, no, no, of all the chances to see him again.'_ Scarlet started to worry and tried to make himself as small as possible beside Rebecca.

"Hide your kids, hide your wives, we have a demon in this bloody restaurant!" A man in his late 40's stopped by their table, he was bald, with a thick mustache, beer belly, and clothes that should've stayed in the 60's, but the one thing that caused Scarlet the most stress was that damn religious necklace, he hated it.

"Demon! Finally came out of your hole! We're going to send you back to where you belong." The man started to point a finger at Scarlet wildly, drawing everyone's attention. Scarlet just wanted to get out of here; he didn't want to go back to the man.

"Excuse me! That's my friend you're talking about, and we were having a nice dinner." Tonks stood up, very annoyed at the man's behavior.

"Your _friend_ is a demon in disguise if you know what that thing has done, he's defied the balance of nature. How do you explain him freezing an entire playground in ice in the middle of summer!" The man sidestepped Tonks and was closing in on Scarlet, Rebecca blocked the man's attempt, she was just as annoyed as Tonks was.

"I don't know who you are but if you don't leave right now, you'll have to deal with three very angry women!" Rebecca narrowed her eyes at the man.

Before anyone could react the man punched Rebecca in the face, then grabbed Scarlet by the neck throwing him against the wall. "The power of Christ compels you, Scarlet!" With each word throwing him back into the wall. Scarlet couldn't see anything at this point and the only thing he could register was the pain. Suddenly he was let go and fell onto the floor, he heard the man yell, clearly someone, probably Tonks had done something to cause him a lot of pain. He felt someone scoop him up and start carrying him, he could hear yelling and some sort of commotion, but he was too tired to care, eventually giving into the darkness.

When he regained consciousness his entire body felt surprisingly pain-free, a bit sore, but nowhere close to what he expected. He could hear voices talking, but right now he was just trying to find the strength to get up. He slowly started to sit up gathering the attention of voices.

"Easy, easy there Scarlet, we used the best healing spells we know, but were no healers." Tonks placed a hand on his back to steady him.

"What happened? How did we get here?" Scarlet groggily asked noticing they were back in their hotel room.

"Jess kicked the man in the groin, causing him to let go of you, never seen a blokes face be in so much pain. Before the authorities could arrive, I carried you, and we left as quickly as possible, apparating once we were a safe distance away." Tonks explained rubbing his back. Scarlet didn't know how to feel about the situation, he thought he'd never see the man again when he left, but now he found him, and brought back so many horrible memories, Worse was that the girls had seen it, and were bound to ask questions.

"Scarlet I know you just woke up, but who was that man?" Rebecca asked. Scarlet noticed that her face was a bit red but otherwise fine. Seemed he wasn't the only one who needed a spell to heal their wounds.

"He said your name, don't tell me this isn't the first time he's laid his hand on you?" Jess joined in.

"Um." Scarlet just wished he stayed in school, didn't want to go through all this.

"Do your parents know?"

"Who is he?"

"Why haven't your parent's done something about?" Rebecca and Jess just kept asking question after question, Scarlet was just hoping that the bed would swallow him, hiding him from all this.

"ENOUGH!" Tonks yelled. She had noticed how uncomfortable Scarlet was getting the longer her two friends asked questions. Both girls soon noticed the distress they were causing the boy and gave sheepish looks back to her. "Why don't you to leave for a few hours." Both wanted to argue, but one look told them Tonks could handle it. They grabbed their coats and apparated away giving the two occupants privacy.

Scarlet noticed Tonks didn't say anything merely looking at him, she soon sighed and sat down on the bed beside him.

"I'm sorry." That caught him off guard, what did she have to be sorry about? "I brought you to London, making you my responsibility. I shouldn't have let that man get anywhere close to you. I failed you as a mentor, and more importantly as a friend. I'll understand if you don't want to see me anymore." Tonks continued. Scarlet looked at her face and could see the sincerity in her words; she truly believed what just happened was her fault.

understand if you don't want to see me anymore." Tonks continued. Scarlet looked at her face and could see the sincerity in her words; she truly believed what just happened was her fault.

"There's nothing to be sorry about Tonks. That man has been my problem long before you brought me here." Scarlet had never once blamed Tonks for what happened, if anything he should be thanking her, Jess, and Rebecca for saving him. How many times did he wish someone would save him?

"That means a lot mate, I've gotten used to having you in life, you have no idea how awesome it is to have someone that looks up to you." Tonks said with a bit of humor in her voice.

Scarlet chuckled at that. "I wouldn't put it that far, I only look up to you because you're taller than me, that's it."

"Quiet you." Tonks lightly nudged his shoulder, she was glad she was starting to get him to smile, but she knew the main issue still needed to be addressed. "Scarlet. You know we can't go back to school without addressing what happened. I promise I won't say anything, but please tell me." Tonks pleaded.

Scarlet was surprised, no one had shown him this much compassion before, but he couldn't tell her everything. When he left he buried all the memories and emotion from all those years of torture, did he really want to bring it back up? One look at Tonks showed him she wasn't about to let it go, and would stay put in this room for as long as it took. At that point he couldn't stop the first tear from falling, then the other, or other, and soon he was pulled into her arms crying his heart out. Every punch, every insult, lash, cut, insult, everything he ever experienced was coming out.

Tonks just rubbed his back rocking him back and forth, for the first time in a long time he didn't care how he looked in this situation, he was in pain and wanted it to go away. He wasn't sure how long they stayed that like, but he didn't let her go until long after he stopped crying.

"Feel better." She whispered in his ear.

"Feel weirdly lighter." Scarlet said, finally telling someone felt uplifting to him.

"One of my many gifts then." Tonks joked, lightly chuckling.

Scarlet couldn't help but laugh at their inside joke. "You're going to have to make a list for me at some point." Scarlet laughed with her.

"It is a very long list.' She said, they still didn't move from their position, Scarlet was content with holding on to her for as long as possible.

"How long?" She asked. It was a general question but Scarlet knew what she was referring to.

"4 years." He replied.

"Is that why you didn't want me in the room with you changing?" She asked.

Scarlet inwardly sighed; he knew if he was being honest he had to show her, unmorphed. He got up breaking the embrace and grabbed the bottom of his sweater. But before he could pull it far, Tonks grabbed his arm.

"You don't have to show me Scarlet I understand." She wanted to say it was for his benefit, but part of her felt she didn't know how she would handle seeing the years of abuse on him.

Scarlet felt if he was going, to be honest, he might as well tell her everything, he gently pried her hand away and continued removing his shirt.

Tonks couldn't wipe the shock off her face; his body was littered with small cuts, burns, and scrapes. To see that boy went through all this was tragic to her. What grabbed her attention was a giant burn in the shape of an "X" at the center of his chest. "That bloody swine branded you like a cow?" She shrieked. She couldn't hold back her anger, how could someone be capable of doing this to a child! "Why didn't your parents stop this!? Better yet where were they!?" She was beyond angry at this point; she wanted to go back to that restaurant and use that pig as her personal cutting board.

"Dead." A small voice said breaking Tonks out of her thoughts. Since knowing him she had never seen Scarlet look so small, often times she could easily forget he was only 11 years old. Her anger dissipated and a maternal instinct came over her, she walked over and crouched to his level before he started speaking again. "I was raised with muggles for the first few years of my life. I didn't know anything about wizards, magic, nothing. It wasn't bad the first few years, I remember moments of being loved, having fun, being a child." She could tell this was hard for him, Scarlet wasn't one to share a lot of what he's thinking most of the time without being prodded first.

"When I was playing outside during the summer another boy had come up to me and grabbed my toy. I tried to get it back but he was stronger than me and just kept laughing at me. I remember getting so angry that I didn't notice the accidental magic I was setting off, ended up encasing the entire play structure in ice. That was when the beatings started, they were convinced that I was possessed by something, and tried to beat it out of me. I didn't understand it at the time but the magic would rapidly heal my wounds that only caused them to increase said beatings. When that didn't work they started cutting me, that only made it worse." Tonks could tell what Scarlet was about to say next would be very difficult for him, so she held both of his hands and looked him in the eye, silently telling him it's going to be okay.

"They brought someone over, I think they called him a priest. He instructed my family to remove my shirt and tied me down to a chair. Since I tended to freeze things they felt fire was the best option. So he grabbed a hot iron, and pressed it right on my chest, it hurt so much and no matter how hard I begged they didn't stop. They didn't bother untying me after they were done; they just left me there in the darkroom and went off to bed to continue the next day. I kept repeating in my head I wanted to get away from there, wanted to go somewhere safe, a real home. I eventually fell asleep, but the strange thing was when I woke up I found myself in an unfamiliar house. There was a house elf called Zinko there, very old. He explained that the house belonged to the ancient and noble house of the Shades and that only a Shade could enter. Zinko explained that I was the child of Stephen and Susan Shade. They died at the tail end of the wizarding world. I'm still not sure how I ended up in that bastards care, whether they found me, or I was given to them I don't know. "On my eleventh birthday I received a letter from Hogwarts inviting me to his school, and that's where I met you." Scarlet finished with a small smile on his face, looking at her.

Tonks couldn't help it, and brought him into another hug, such a sweet little boy, forced to go through so much. It was there she made a silent vow to herself, that she would always be there for Scarlet no matter what, she'd be the family he'd need, and would provide the support and comfort he deserves.

"No matter what happens Scarlet you'll always have me. I'll be there to protect you from anything that tries to hurt you." She kissed the boy on the cheek and held him tightly in her arms.

When Jess and Rebecca came back alter that night they found Scarlet and Tonks asleep on the same bed, both with giant smiles on their faces. They knew their best friend did her job and were glad to see them in such a better place than when they left.

 **Authors Notes: So we finally get a look at Scarlet's backstory, there will be flashbacks of his childhood later on in the story, I'll give full warnings ahead of time. Next chapter will handle the holidays, another fell good one before we move onto the plot. Thanks again for reading, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling.**

Fresh Start

Chapter 5

The holiday break had finally arrived for the students of Hogwarts. For the older students a small time of reprieve from vigorous studying, for the younger students an opportunity see their loved one. Only a small fraction of the students chose to stay at school.

When deciding where to spend his holidays, Scarlet felt either staying in an empty home or staying with his classmates for a few weeks were both undesired choices. However, the decision was taken out of his hands last week when Tonks had come up to him telling him he'd have the gracious offer of spending Christmas with her and her family. He'd originally declined the kind invitation; he didn't want to ruin her families holidays. One thing you can count on Tonks for, her stubbornness. So it was no surprise when he informed Professor McGonagall that he'd, in fact, be leaving the castle for a few weeks.

Scarlet had woken up early and had time before their train was scheduled to return them to London, he wanted to make sure he said goodbye to each of his companions. Quickly spotting Greengrass and Davis eating breakfast at Slytherin table he walked over to them.

After his conversation with Snape a few weeks ago, the professor had informed his house that Scarlet Shade and anyone in Slytherin house who interacted with him was off limits, Daphne had told him it had taken Slytherin as a whole by surprise, but they had grudgingly accepted it. Without having to worry about their position inside Slytherin from falling, Daphne and Tracey were able to interact with him more often.

So it came as no surprise to Scarlet when he walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down and no one batted an eye. Scarlet did notice Malfoy and his _bodyguards_ looking at him from the other side of the table, not out of malice, more of interest.

"Good morning Tracey, Daphne." Scarlet started gathering food onto his plate.

"Morning Scarlet, are you excited for your holidays?" Tracey asked before biting into her own sandwich.

"It'll be interesting, to say the least." Scarlet answered.

"I'm a little surprised you're leaving Hogwarts, considering your situation at home." Daphne interjected.

Most pureblood families are aware of his parent's death during the war, so it came as no surprised when Greengrass commented about it during one of their first study sessions. What everyone didn't know is that he lived alone, most just assumed he was given to another pureblood family. However it didn't mean he wanted that information known publically to the muggleborns and other students who aren't familiar with pureblood families. He didn't want their pitying looks, also it would raise a question to who was taking care of him now.

"I'm not going home, I've been invited by one of my friends to spend the holidays with them and their family." Scarlet replied.

"How exciting." Tracey gushed. "I remember when Daphne invited me over for Christmas at her home. Daphne and her parents are much more formal when it comes to their holidays, it was very different than the ones my parents run, but still very enjoyable. She leaned in closer to Scarlet not wanting any other Slytherins to hear what she said next. "My dads a muggleborn, so our holidays are usually similar to the ones muggles have, with a slight touch of magic." She winked before leaning back in her seat.

"Looks like I won't have to worry about you having dreadful holidays." Scarlet said with cheek.

"I wasn't aware we occupy your thoughts a lot Scarlet. I'm touched, but also severely disturbed by this fact." Daphne teased with a devilish smirk on her face.

"Believe it or not Greengrass, you're not the center of my universe, I have bigger problems than you I have to deal in Gryffindor tower on a daily basis." Scarlet joked back, he always enjoyed this back and forth game he played with Daphne, she was always up for the challenge.

"I'll remember that next time you come to me and Tracey begging us to let you sit with us in Potions." Daphnes eyes narrowed.

"We purebloods don't beg, we demand!" Scarlet mockingly pounded his fist on the table; it was empty from everyone going back to their dorms to retrieve their luggage.

"Just kiss already! I can't deal with this tension for the next 6 years." Tracey pouted.

"Quiet you!" Scarlet and Daphne said in unison not breaking eye contact, whoever won this verbal bout would get to enjoy the splendid taste of victory for the rest of the year.

"We purebloods don't have to resort to throwing a temper tantrum when not getting our ways." Daphne crossed her arms over her chest.

"You act like a pureblood? I can't tell your facial expressions are the same every day." Scarlet mimicked her mannerisms, just another way to irritate her.

"Well, you-" Before she could retort, an annoyingly familiar person yelled from across the Hall.

"Scarlet quit kissing your girlfriend we have to leave in 10 minutes!" Scarlet was furiously blushing at her comment as he looked over at Tonks, she had purposely embarrassed him in front of a number of students in the Great Hall. He turned around and looked back at his blonde nemesis, and saw she was sporting a giant grin on her face.

"Well look at the time, Tracey, I think it's time we leave Scarlet here to wallow in his defeat, I think he's suffered enough. Enjoy your holiday's Shade." Daphne mockingly curtseyed before leaving.

"Bye Scarlet, maybe next time." Tracey smiled before pulling Scarlet into a quick hug and running off after her friend.

Scarlet grudgingly grabbed his luggage and walked over to the exit, he looked over and saw Hermoine talking to Potter and Weasley, he sighed figuring he should say something to her as well and changed directions walking over to Gryffindor table. He noticed all three were having a discussion and was only able to hear the name Nicolas Flamel before they stopped noticing him approaching.

"Hello, Hermoine." He nodded at the two boys.

"Hi Scarlet, you're leaving for the holidays too?" She asked.

"I'm starting to regret leaving, I'm going to be stuck with Tonks and as you just heard from her, it's going to be a long trip." Scarlet muttered.

"That was her? I thought you told me she has pink hair?" Hermoine narrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"She likes to change her hairstyles. So who is Nicolas Flamel?" Scarlet couldn't help be curious, Hermoine had told him that she and the two boys were looking into certain matters after the events of the Quidditch match, was this where it lead them?

"Oh um." Hermoine was surprisingly quiet when asked a question; she looked over at Potter and Weasley. Potter looked uncertain on what to do, and Weasley vehemently shook his head. Ron had seen Scarlet sitting at Slytherin's table just now, and that only reinforced his distrust in Shade.

"No one, in particular, I was just talking about a book I read." Hermoine was obviously lying, but Scarlet didn't have time to pry further. He'd look in this Flamel person while on break.

"Anyway I wanted to wish you happy holidays and give you this, I had a friend pick this up for me at Hogsmeade." Scarlet pulled out a small wrapped package and handed it to her.

"Thank you so much, Scarlet!" Hermoine hugged him, before going through her trunk and pulling out a wrapped present of her own. It was obviously a book based on the shape but he appreciated the gesture.

"Thanks, I'm about to walk out, want to join me?" he asked. She looked over at the two boys who were watching their exchange. Scarlet could tell she wanted a few minutes alone with them, so he motioned that he'd wait by the doors. "Be quick okay, Potter Weasley, enjoy your break." He nodded at them before walking out.

It was only a few minutes later before she walked up to him, and both were on their way out of the castle. There weren't many students out, seemed both of them were the last to be leaving.

"Are you going to tell me who Nicolas Flamel is now that your muscle is gone?" Scarlet asked.

"Huh?" The fact to his joke had gone over her head showed she must've been deep in thought. So he repeated his question.

"That's what we're trying to figure out, I'm sorry Scarlet I'm not trying to be rude you've done so much for me the past few weeks and I'm very appreciative, but it's better if very few people know, it's very serious." She sounded sincere in her apology. Potter and Weasley had probably told her not to tell him, which was fine he'd do the same to someone he didn't trust.

"That's alright, I have enough homework to worry about." He joked trying to lift her mood.

"You've done well in all our classes if anyone has to worry it's me. I will not come second to some boy." She jokingly mocked him.

"Well this _boy_ has come ahead of you in most classes, so feel free to finally be a challenge, Granger." Scarlet challenged. "Anyway we're about to run into a few people I know, they like to joke around so don't take what they say seriously. Especially if it's about me." He continued.

They soon were outside and walking over to the carriages, both could see a group of three students waiting for them besides the last one.

"I thought you told me his girlfriend was blonde." Rebecca asked Tonks. Scarlet never wanted to change his mind and stay at Hogwarts more than right now.

"What do you expect Rebecca, he's a bloke. They're never satisfied with just one." Tonks joked. Causing him to momentary blush before applying his metamorhmagus abilities to hide it, unfortunately, Hermoine was bright red as Weasleys hair, laughter soon erupted from the three 7th years.

"Sorry sweetie, we can't help but laugh at our friend, I'm Tonks by the way. Just Tonks, and that's Rebecca and Jess." She narrowed her eyes at Jess and Rebecca to stop them from saying her first name before shaking Hermoine's hand.

"Pleasure, I'm Hermoine Granger." She introduced herself. Soon all five climbed into the carriage to continue their conversation.

"So you're the damsel in distress our brave Scarlet saved on Halloween. I tell you he was quite the topic of conversation amongst the girls in Hufflepuff." Tonks winked at Scarlet who clearly was new to this information considering the surprised look he was giving her.

"Is that why Bones and Abbott kept wanting to study with me!?" Scarlet exclaimed. Both girls had been persistent on spending time with him. He usually made up some excuse but had to give in from time to time.

"I may have told them, the Ice King persona is just a shield, and inside is a shy little boy waiting to be loved." Tonk cried dramatically, wiping a fake tear. Causing Scarlet to close his eyes and try to find his happy place amongst the girl's laughter.

"Alright alright, we've had enough fun at Scarlet's expense. Hermoine, Scarlet here tells me your brightest witch in your year, that's quite the compliment from him." Jess said.

"You said that about me?" Hermoine turned to Scarlet.

"It's true, though the company you keep isn't helping." Scarlet muttered loud the last part loud enough for her to hear.

"Don't say that about them, they're nice." Hermoine exclaimed.

"Nice can only get you so far Hermoine, I'm in the business of getting results." Scarlet responded, they had this discussion in the past but agreed to disagree. He still didn't like the boys, but now that they were dragging Granger into something very dangerous, that didn't do them any favors.

"Now Scarlet, remember what we talked about." Tonks scolded Scarlet.

"Yes Nymphadora," Scarlet said with a giant grin. He'd finally learned her first name and was going to use it whenever she got too difficult to handle.

"It's Tonks! Tonks! Tonks! Tonks!" Tonks stood up abruptly while her hair changed from green to red. She then turned to her two best friends towering over them. "Which one of you told him!?"

Scarlet had never seen two grown witches act like children that got caught doing something they shouldn't have done, cowering in the corner of the carriage.

"We didn't tell him!"

"I didn't say anything!"

"We still remember what happened in 3rd year!" Jess cried, with Rebecca nodding vigorously.

That calmed Tonks down, and she sat down satisfied with their answers. "Scarlet, please tell me who informed you?" Tonks asked surprisingly gentle. "So I can rip their bits into pieces and force it down their throats." Yup, there was the Tonks they all knew and love.

"I propose a trade." Jess interjected. The carriages had just stopped and they were walking towards the Hogwarts Express. "We still have a few hours before we get to King Cross Station, once we get there Scarlet can tell Tonks, until then Tonks has to promise not to embarrass him in return." Jess proposed.

"Fine." Tonks muttered, annoyed Jess was denying her from doing her favorite hobby.

"Tonks not being able to embarrass me? She won't be able to talk for hours."

"Oi!"

"Fine, fine, I agree to the said proposal." Both shook hands in agreement.

"Will you be sitting with us Hermoine? We could go over what electives to choose in your 3rd year, I know I found it helpful." Jess asked, Scarlet noticed both witches were very similar.

"I've loved too, but I promised my friend I'd help them with their school work, can we talk next term?" Hermoine asked hopefully.

"Sure thing, enjoy your holidays." Jess said.

"It was nice to meet all of you, I'm glad there are people to take care of him."

"Hey!"

"Enjoy your holidays, bye!" Hermoine waved to them as she walked down into a different compartment.

All four waved back then traveled down till they found an empty compartment. They put their luggage on the top racks and sat down.

"I don't know about you all but I'm going to enjoy a nice nap, woke up early to do my packing." Tonks swung her legs on the bench and rested them on Scarlet's lap.

"Seems our relationship has gotten to the point where you're so comfortable around me, you don't mind using me as a footstool…I regret meeting you." Scarlet deadpanned at Tonks. She merely grunted and closed her eyes.

"Don't fight it Scarlet just let it happen." Rebecca said mimicking Tonks action on Jess.

"Please don't encourage bad behavior." Jess didn't bother shrugging Rebecca's leg off and started reading her Potions textbook.

When it came to Rebecca and Jess Scarlet though they're relationship would uncomfortable since the incident in London, but they didn't talk about it right away. Each one came up to him one on one and told him that they were glad he talked to Tonks about it. They told him that if he wanted to talk about it with them they'd be more than welcome to listen, but they wouldn't bring it up on their own. He was thankful for that.

The train started to move out of Hogsmeade station, and Scarlet couldn't help but think back to the last time he was on this train. He remembered being so adamant to not rely on people, and not make real relationships. He tried so hard to not make friends, and four months later he's sitting with three people he's very close too.

XXX

The time spent on the train passed by quickly, Tonks and Rebecca slept almost the entire time. Scarlet and Jess had enjoyed playing wizards chess, the latter winning every match. Soon the sound of the train pulling into the station woke up the other girls.

"Ugh sorry guys but me and Jess have to leave very quickly to catch our flight, our families are meeting us at the airport." Rebecca got up begrudgingly, she and Jess took down their luggage. "Tonks I expect you take care of Scarlet, he better be a mini you when I see him next." She ended it with a joke but Tonks could sense the seriousness in her statement to not let anything happen to the kid.

"Now that I can promise mate." Tonks and Rebecca wrapped each other in a hug saying their goodbyes.

Jess walked up to him and wrapped him in a hug. "Be safe, have fun, and if Tonks is a handful then tattle on her to her mother, Andromeda will set her straight." Jess said breaking the hug up and walking over to Tonks.

"Oi! Just because two ex-boyfriends call me a handful doesn't mean I am one!" Tonks chastised. But she still had a smile on her face.

"Take care, send pictures, and shag a bloke or two, you're way too uptight Jess." Tonks joked. Jess smiled and smacked her arm while she and Rebecca walked out of the compartment and into the station.

"Then there were two." Scarlet muttered watching them leaves.

"Come on best not to make my mum wait." Tonks patted his shoulder bringing down her and Scarlet trunks. Scarlet followed behind.

When she mentioned her parents, dread started to fill Scarlet, he still wasn't comfortable around adults, the professors were different since it was in a safe environment, add to the fact he had no idea what's she told them about him, this would be a unique experience for him.

He was broking out of his thoughts by a hand on in his shoulder; he looked up and saw Tonks looking at him. "You trust me?" Trust was one thing he thought he'd never give out; he'd been burned once by people he trusted, so why try again. Then he met Tonks and she'd proven to be a very valuable person in his life. If he were ever going to grow up he'd have to learn to take chances and trust in people.

Scarlet nodded at her. "I trust you." She smiled in delight in his answer and grabbed his hand leading them through the station.

The crowd at King Cross Station was filled with students reuniting with their families. Some not caring they were in public jumped into their parents embrace, others like the Malfoys were more restrained in their public interactions. Scarlet figured Tonks wouldn't be the one to hold back in her feelings.

Eventually, he noticed a woman walking up to them. The two features that stood out were her dark hair and her eyes. He was used to seeing such hateful eyes from his mother figure but Tonks mother was just filled with joy, as she came up to them and wrapped her arms around Tonks' shoulders. When they broke up that's when their attention came to him. He noticed Andromeda give him a brief look, he wasn't sure what it was, she almost looked guilty, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

"You must be Scarlet, my name is Andromeda, my daughter has written about you so much, glad to finally meet you." She offered her hand, and Scarlet shook it. "I'll admit I'm a little surprised, I figured the first boy my daughter would bring over would be older, but I'll take you any day sweetie." Scarlet could see where Tonks got her sense of humor.

"As long as Mr. Tonks doesn't give me _The Dad_ talk, Ill agrees with that sentiment." Scarlet joked.

"See mum, told you he has a great sense of humor." Tonks nudged her mother's shoulder.

All three were soon walking out of the station; Tonks had told him there's a special area on the magical side of the platform to allow families to apparate. Scarlet still had trouble standing on his feet at the end of each trip and hope to not embarrass himself in front of Andromeda.

"Scarlet, have you ever apparated before?" Ms. Tonks asked him.

"No Ms. Tonks." Their adventures in London were only known between the four of them, so he had to pretend to be naïve when it came to apparating.

"Please call me Andromeda. Apparating is means of traveling distances for wizards and witches. Side apparition can be a little difficult to stomach but it'll only be a few short moments." She explained before offering her arm. Scarlet nodded glad she was nice enough to explain before all three apparated out of the station.

Seemed even being explained about side apparition didn't help go through the experience, as Scarlet's face became very intimate with the carpet floor. He stood up with Tonks laughing behind him. He noticed a pair of arms wrap around his shoulder helping lift him up. He nodded his thanks to Andromeda before settling into his new surroundings. "I'll have Dora bring your luggage to the bedroom, why don't I show you around the house." Andromeda offered. Scarlet nodded and was soon being lead throughout the house.

The house itself was nothing special, just a normal two-story house located in muggle neighborhood. There was one thing that the Tonks residence had, which the Shade's would never have. It was a home. Looking around the rooms and hallways Scarlet could see pictures throughout the years. Ones with Tonks growing up, wedding photos, birthdays, holidays, any his home lacked. There was one in particular that caught his eye, it was a slightly younger Tonks, Andromeda, and presumably Mr. Tonks, they were all waving at the camera looking like they were having a great time. Scarlet couldn't help but be slightly jealous looking at that, they had something he would never get to experience, anytime he thought about family all he could think about was that damn man and his blasted religion.

"That one was taken after Tonks fifth year. She had just received her OWLS results and passed all the courses she needed to continue her path to become an Auror. I remember being so happy that day, we decided to go out to a nearby restaurant to celebrate." Andromeda had noticed Scarlet staring at a particular photo. "I'm sorry about what happened to your parents, I went to school with Steven, and Susan Shade, they were good people."

That brought Scarlet out of his thoughts. "You knew my parents?" He asked, he didn't know much about his parents, and was curious to what she knew.

"We weren't that close, they were a few years younger, they were generally nice people, both in Hufflepuff. Poor things though, both weren't that magically gifted, bright students but not very powerful. From the praise my daughter has given, you certainly are gifted, I'm sure they would be proud." She patted his shoulder and started to lead him back into the living room to where Tonks was on the couch watching television.

"Sometimes I think you missed that box more than your own mother Nymphadora." Andromeda scolded.

"Mum! Its Tonks!" Tonks uncharacteristically whined. Andromeda just raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her daughter.

"Fine. Scarlet why don't I show you to our room." Tonks suggested.

"Our room?" Scarlet questioned while being dragged out of the living room.

"As you noticed during mums extravagant tour there are only two bedrooms in here so I offered to share mine." She answered while leading them to her room.

"That's not necessary, the couch is more than fine." Scarlet nervously answered. Jess had told him of the pranks Tonks and Rebecca would get up to during sleepovers. Add to the fact she can use magic outside of Hogwarts meant he'd be defenseless against her mischief.

"As my dad will tell you from personal experience, the couch isn't pleasant to sleep in. Why? Scared of little old me?" There it was again, that predatory smile on Tonks' face! Before Scarlet could back away from her reach she grabbed his arm, dragged him into her room and closed the door.

Now that he was forced into the room, Scarlet got a good look at the room. It was surprisingly cleaner than he imagined it to be, though considering she hasn't been in this room for months Andromeda may have forced her to clean it before leaving. The walls were what he expected, posters of Weird Sisters, and other boy bands mainly muggle bands. There was a walk-in closet on one side and a door leading to the bathroom on the other. Scarlet had to admit it was rather spacious and would fit two people quite comfortably.

"When it comes to cleaning mums bit of a freak, so if there's anything dirty she'll know the charm to do so. Hasn't stopped her from making me do chores the hard way." Tonks muttered the last part. "I asked mum to clear a few drawers for your clothes." She motioned to the empty drawers.

Tonks spent the next hour showing him all her stuff, the different posters see had gotten from live concerts; the shirts also from said concerts. She went through her personal album, there was a lot of her Jess and Rebecca outside of school. What surprised Scarlet the most was one picture of him and Tonks during their first Hogsmeade visit. It was during their visit to Three Broomsticks Inn enjoying their first glass of butterbeer. _'How was this taken?'_

"Seems we had stalkers during our first visit. Rebecca took that one from across the Inn, I sent it to mum and asked she put it in the album." Tonks answered his silent question. "Come on I think dinners ready, and I think dads here."

The walked out of the room and into the kitchen and were immediately hit with a delicious aroma of food in the air, something Scarlet missed living by himself. There was also a man setting up the table. He was an average height man, fair-haired, and big-bellied, with a thick mustache on his face, he looked up at Scarlet and confusion could be seen on his face.

"I thought Dora was bringing Shade over?" The man seemed confused by Scarlets appearance; did they not tell him in advance?

"That is Scarlet dear." Andromeda answered for him. She waved her wand and the food levitated onto the appropriate plates.

"Oh, Dora when you told me you were bringing a boy here I thought he'd be older. A bit relieved to see I was wrong. Edward Tonks my boy, but most people just call me Ted." The man now known as Ted replied offering his hand.

"Shade, Scarlet Shade sir." Scarlet shook Ted's hand and sat down on the table.

"Just Ted please, I hear sir too many times at the office."

"Dads here an accountant, he has both wizards and muggles as clients." Tonks informed Scarlet.

"You don't see too many people working for both." Scarlet said. Most wizards and witches tended to stick to jobs in the wizarding world. Muggleborns always had difficulties finding jobs and most returned back to their roots and got mundane muggle jobs.

"Nothing but hard work and determination, there's something sweet about proving biases against you wrong." Ted had a brief chuckle at his own words.

"Enough talk about work, it's time to eat!" Scarlet was glad he was away from the splash zone that is the area around Tonks. She tended to be a messy eater, especially when she's hungry, like right now.

Dinner was spent mostly for small talk, Ted and Andromeda had asked Scarlet and Tonks how Hogwarts was, how their studies were going. Later focusing mainly on Tonks. Once dinner was finished and they moved into the living room and continued talking to Tonks, it was their own daughter, and this year would determine if she would be accepted into the Auror Academy. Scarlet felt fine slipping into the background; it was more comfortable for him.

Both Ted and Andromeda seemed like lovely people. Andromeda was definitely the cause of Tonks humor, she could go toe to toe with her daughter when it came to teasing Ted. The man seemed to be always in a good mood, he would talk the jokes in stride and laugh with them, always seemed to have a story ready about his time in Hogwarts, Scarlet liked him, he seemed simple.

XXX

"Scarlet" a voice said outside his ear, he was too tired to respond.

"Scarlet" The annoying voice repeated, he tried to shoo the voice away.

"Scarlet!" The voice loudly yelled grabbing him by surprise. He ended up jumping a foot to his left in shock, but unfortunately, there was no more bed on the left and crash-landed on the floor. He was trying to untangle himself from the blankets while hearing that same voice the cause of his current predicament howling in laughter in the background.

When he finally freed himself he popped his head out only to find Tonks standing there with her hands on her hips and a big smile on her face. For the past few days she and him had alternated their hair between red and green, today it seemed she sported both so he matched his hair to hers. "Good morning Scarlet." She said in a cheery voice. Scarlet looked out the window; it was way too early for this.

"Tonks, what is so important that you had to wake me up early?" Scarlet lazily rubbed his eyes trying to wake up.

"It's Christmas!" She beamed, Scarlet then realized why she was wearing an ugly sewn Christmas sweater. Tonks soon grabbed Scarlet by the shoulder and started leading out of the room, and into the kitchen. "Mum and dad will be up in a little bit figured they can have hot chocolate ready for them." She started waving her wand and the ingredients were floating over into a pot, Scarlet watched a little fascinated at the mundane use of magic. He then looked at Tonks and found her humming along to some tune in her head; seemed Christmas had the ability to make every adult act like a kid.

Soon they had four cups of hot chocolate ready and floated them into the living room where Andromeda and Ted walked out still a bit sleepy. "Merry Christmas, glad to see you two up and cheerful." Andromeda and Ted both took their cups, graciously thanking both of them before taking a sip.

After everyone had finally broken out of their sleepy stupor it was time to exchange gifts. Scarlet wasn't sure what to get the Mister and Misses Tonks but had decided on decorative gifts based on suggestions Tonks had given him.

Tonks was someone very difficult to get a present for, she had done so much for him and he wanted to show his appreciation. It had taken some time but he felt he found something perfect for her. He rose up and started walking towards her each step causing his nerves to increase, Scarlet, reached her and pulled out a small wrapped box and handed it to her. "This is for you Tonks."

"Aw, so sweet of you Scarlet thanks." She grabbed his gift and started to unwrap it when she was done she could see it was a jewelry box. Tonks carefully opened the lid and gasped grabbing her parent's attention. Inside was a necklace, the centerpiece was a stone, instead of the usual gold or silver ones, this stone would change color, it started from red to blue, to green, and just kept going. "This is amazing Scarlet, but it must've cost you a fortune."

Scarlet merely shrugged, it wasn't like he was spending a lot of galleons on a daily basis. "I wanted to thank you for what you've done for me the past few months, I know I'm not the easiest person to talk too." Tonks couldn't help but snort at the last part. "But you've proven yourself to be very stubborn, and wouldn't leave me alone like most people and stayed to help when I needed it." Scarlet could see Tonks start to get teary eyed so he hugged her.

"This means a lot Scarlet, don't worry I'll always be there for you, promise." They soon broke up, and Tonks handed Scarlet his gift. He unwrapped it and saw she had given him a photo album. "Figured you might want to capture some happy moments in your life and have somewhere to put them. I've taken the liberty of adding a couple already." Tonks explained. As Scarlet opened it he saw a few photos of him at school and Hogsmeade, even one of them both and Jess and Rebecca after they had just finished shopping.

"Thanks, I'm sure I'll have opportunities to put more in here." Scarlet looked through it a little bit enjoying his present; he then opened Hermoine's present, which was an advance book on DADA, he wasn't too surprised she always commented to him that it was his best subject during thier study sessions, so she was trying to help him reach his potential. Tonks parents were nice enough to give him a few clothes colored in red and gold, to help represent his house. Daphne and Tracey mailed him his presents the other night, Daphne's gift had been an excellent surprise, he had mentioned during the break if her family had any books in their library pertaining to Nicolas Flamel. As Scarlet unwrapped the gift and saw it was a book he knew she came through, there was a note inside. "Merry Christmas Shade, I'll be sure to collect your debt before the end of the term." Tracey had given him a basket full of sweets, apparently, her mother was a fabulous baker and wanted Scarlet to have some, though he would have to be careful, Tonks was eyeing the basket like a lion eyeing its prey.

All in all, Scarlet was having a pretty good Christmas. Before the incident in the playground he was too young to remember what happened during his holidays, he remembers brief glimpses of sweets and toys but that's it. After the incident, while his guardians went to church to celebrate, he was stuck in his room praying whatever haunted his soul would go away. He pushed the thoughts aside, Tonks had been gracious enough to invite him over, and the least he could do was enjoy his time here, which he did. Even if the holiday's years after don't go well, he could always think back to this moment and cherish it.

XXX

Andromeda waved goodbye at the Tonks and Scarlet as she watched the train they were on leave King Cross Station. It had been one of the more enjoyable holidays in awhile, and she would miss both of them dearly. She quickly walked out of the station and found an empty space to apparate home.

She saw her loving husband going through several documents deep in concentration, he looked up and saw her and he immediately got up and walked over to the counter to grab her a tea. "How were the kids?" He asked while handing her a cup.

"They were good, obviously both very sad to be leaving." She replied before sipping her tea.

"Something troubling you dear?" Ted asked. He had noticed his wife would sometimes be lost in thought during the past few weeks, most often it would be when Scarlet was in the room.

Andromeda sighed sadly and placed her cup on the table. Ever since she first lay eyes on Scarlet a growing sense of guilt had been eating up at her. What was worse was that she noticed how reserved the boy was, he looked as if he was enjoying his time here, but was reigning in his emotions and thoughts. No child should have to be like that.

"It's actually about Scarlet, how much do you know about him, Ted?" Andromeda asked.

"Not a lot, only that his parents died at the end of the war, and what Tonks wrote in her letters to us. Why?" Ted seemed genuinely confused at what his wife was doing.

"Do you know how his parents died?" Andromeda pushed.

"No, I assumed it was Death Eaters though." Ted answered.

"Yes you're right, it was a Death Eater. I don't think our daughter has realized this, or else she might not have invited Scarlet over to see me." Andromeda explained. The truth was she wanted to say something to Scarlet but she was worried at what might've happened. Nymphadora had told her the boy didn't have the most pleasant of childhoods and if she told him what she knew it might push him over the edge and ruins any innocence he might have left.

"Okay, I still don't get why you look as if you personally murdered Steven and Susan Shade." Ted said, he still wasn't sure what his wife was trying to say and rubbed her back supporting to make her continue.

Andromeda chuckled humorlessly at her husband's comment. "No, I didn't, but it's close enough." She finished her tea in one gulp and couldn't help but start shaking at what she said next. "The Death Eater that murdered the Shades was my cousin. Sirius Black."

 **AN: A bit of joy for our characters as they enjoy their holidays. Though couldn't help but put that last nugget in. We will learn more about Sirius and Scarlet's parents either at the end of book 2, or during book 3.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling.**

Fresh Start Ch 6

The weeks after the holidays had been in a word stressful. For the older students exams were just around the corner, unfortunately for Scarlet, he and Tonks couldn't have their weekly sessions and had to push it to once every two weeks. Scarlet was fine with it, he knew she was busy studying, it was her career on the online he couldn't fault her for that, add to the fact they had long since past metamorphmagus training and simply moved on to training on advanced spells for him. Tonks had mentioned that this would be a great opportunity to focus on his other relationships in Hogwarts, which was why he found himself in this current predicament.

"Which color smoke indicates a successful Cure for boils potion?"

"I don't know."

"What are the three most crucial ingredients in a Forgetfulness Potion?"

"I don't know."

"How many valerian slugs are needed in a Sleeping Draught?"

"I don't know."

Scarlet could feel his eye twitch at the answers; Hermoine was questioning Weasley for their upcoming potions exams and had asked Scarlet for help. Potter had just excused himself to go to the loo and that left the three of them at a table in the library. He was soon regretting his decision to help them when he saw how far behind they were. Apparently, all three were still in the case of "Snape is evil we have to stop him" causing them a lot of time just trying to figure out who Nicolas Flamel is, instead focusing on homework.

Scarlet could see Hermoine get frustrated at Weasley's effort, he knew how much Hermoine desired friendship, but she was really scraping the bottom of the barrel with the redhead, all he ever saw them do was argue with one another. If it weren't for Potter playing mediator between them they'd probably stop speaking to one another.

"Scarlet could you please help me?" Hermoine asked Scarlet bringing the spotlight on him.

"I would if I felt he'd learn something." Scarlet muttered before returning to his homework."

"Hey! I've learned a lot, just really tired right now." Weasley weakly defended.

"Late night reading sessions on Nicolas Flamel?" Scarlet drawled.

"How do you know about Nicolas Flamel?" Weasley yelled, soon earning him the glare of any students studying nearby. He had the decency to look embarrassed; he then narrows his eyes at Hermoine in thought. "You told him about Flamel? How could you Hermoine! He's probably told the snakes about it, no wonder Snape's been giving us extra homework since the break ended! He's trying to give us the slip!"

Scarlet had to give Ron some credit, that was exactly why their potions professor was handing out larger assignments lately, of course, he wouldn't be telling the trio that.

"I'm sorry Ron, its just Scarlet's my friend too, and we weren't having any luck on who Nicolas Flamel is. I thought having an extra set of eyes would help. Do you know anything Scarlet?" Hermoine explained.

Of course Scarlet knew who Nicolas Flamel is, Greengrass's present had explained to him that he was a former student at Beauxbatons Academy in France and a well-known alchemist, but most importantly the only known creator of the Philosopher's stone, a stone which could create an Elixir of life, and can transform any metal into pure gold. Any person who wielded the stone could have uncontrollable power and wealth. The question was why did professor Quirrel want it in the first place? The book also explained that Flamel was close friends with Dumbledore, so it made sense him that he would entrust the Headmaster to protect it. What confused Scarlet was why hide it in Hogwarts herself? ' _Why potentially endanger the students?'_

"I actually do know who Nicolas Flamel is, and I do know what's underneath the trapdoor on the 3rd-floor hallway." Scarlet stated, he couldn't help but be a bit smug at Weasley.

"That's wonderful Scarlet, what is it?" Hermoine seemed excited at the breakthrough, knowing her she probably read half the library trying to find some mention of the alchemist.

"I can't say." Scarlet said simply.

"Why not? Scarlet, you know Snape is trying to get what's underneath there, and if you know what it is then you must realize the severity of the situation?" Hermoine explained.

"You still have no proof Snape is after it? All you have are guesses." Scarlet retorted.

"Actually Harry overheard Snape corner Quirrel during Christmas, he couldn't hear much but it seemed Snape wanted some information from him." Weasley told him with a smug grin on his face.

Scarlet didn't bother to look or talk to Weasley at that point, he knew Granger was the only sensible one left to talk too. "Trust me when I say you three will do more harm than good getting involved, trust the teachers to do their job."

"We can't stand by and do nothing, you saw what happened to Harry at the Quidditch field. If nothing done than incidents like that will keep happening." Hermoine defended herself.

Scarlet was starting to get angry at Hermoine, she was supposed to be the smart one, and yet she was acting like any other idiotic Gryffindor thinking more with courage than brains. "Let's say I do tell you, what are you going to do? You can't honestly expect three first years to beat a teacher?" Scarlet said.

"No, but we can inform Dumbledore I'm sure he'd be able to do something about it." Hermoine seemed dead set on continuing in this path.

"Forget it Hermoine, Scarlet's probably doesn't know anything about Flamel, the snakes probably fed him lies. His parents probably taught him not to give anything away without receiving something in return, pureblood families can be quite selfish." Weasley stated confidently.

Scarlet could start to feel his mask breaking as his right eye twitched at Weasley's comment. How dare that idiot pretends to even know who he was! "Actually the snakes were the reason why I know who Nicolas Flamel is, they were even nice enough to give me a book about him."

"Please Scarlet we have to see that book, no one else is going to stop Snape but us." Hermoine pleaded.

Sick of this conversation going around in circles Scarlet got up, closed all his books and put them in his bag. He gave one last look to the both of them and left quickly. Scarlet failed to notice Hermoine start to follow him but Ron pulled her back.

' _Those idiots are going to get themselves killed, and they're going to bring Hermoine down with them.'_ Scarlet could feel himself getting angrier and angrier as he continued his thoughts on three, he wasn't sure why he was this upset. He wasn't a close friend with her, they didn't have deep meaningful conversations, the only reason he stuck with her was that she seemed like someone who could offer him something useful. He shook his head, and continued down the hallway he was supposed to meet with Snape soon to keep him up to date on the trio.

"Scarlet!" A voice yelled down the hallway. Scarlet turned around and saw Potter running up to him, he stopped a few feet away and tried to catch his breath, seem running wasn't a high priority to the boy wonder.

"What do you want Potter? Your friends tell you what I told them, are you going to try to convince me to do the right thing?" Scarlet mocked.

"No, I was listening in and you were very clear." Potter started to fidget a bit, clearly, the next thing he wanted to say was something uncomfortable for him to discuss. "I get it." He continued.

"Get what?" Scarlet asked.

"Why you didn't tell them, or us." Potter said. "You're worried about Hermoine because we both know something dangerous is going on." He said as if it was the most obvious thing.

"Excuse me? I don't waste my time worrying about people when I need to focus on myself." To Scarlet it was a true statement, Tonks was a 7th year student training to be an Auror, she can easily take care of herself, Daphne and Tracey were in another house and were very intelligent, they wouldn't recklessly put themselves in a bad situation.

"You're wrong! I've followed you the past few weeks. You act like this ice-cold person who doesn't care about anyone but himself, but I saw how you talked to your friends when no ones around, to Daphne, Tracey, Tonks, and even Hermoine. You care about them." Scarlet could feel himself start to get very angry with Potter, the nerve of the boy to tell him how he thinks knows him. What irritated him most was the fact he had been followed. Scarlet didn't know how the boy did it, he was always very aware of his surroundings; Potter wasn't smart enough to know a spell able to conceal him. Scarlet started to walk towards Potter.

Before Potter could continue Scarlet punched him straight in the face, he could feel the glasses break on impact as he watched the boy land on the floor. "You think you know everything do you Potter? Let me tell you this, you have to take care of yourself no one else will, everyone I thought I could trust has tried to cut me down! That's why I surround myself with those people, not because I trust or care, but because they're useful to me and nothing more. I don't need anyone's friendship!" Scarlet yelled, he heard a soft gasp and looked up to find Hermoine and Ron close by. He could see tears start to form in her eyes at his words.

Scarlet could feel dread at knowing she heard him. To Scarlet, it was the truth, that didn't mean he wanted her to know it.

"What's going on here?" A cold voice said behind Scarlet.

Scarlet turned around and saw Snape walk up to them. "Well, what do we have here? Four Gryffindor students fighting amongst themselves, how amusing." Snape drawled. The potions teacher looked at students for a moment before continuing. "20 Points taken from Gryffindor for instigating a fight Potter, and 2 weeks worth of detention to you as well. Now leave before it becomes 4 weeks." Snape scolded them causing them to walk away.

Hermoine and Weasley both helped Potter up and started to drag him to the hospital wing, he could see the redhead glaring at him every so often. It was the look Hermoine gave him that affected Scarlet the most, disappointment and hurt. He didn't know why the look she gave affected as much; he was honest about not caring about anyone, wasn't he?

XXX

A few weeks had passed by since the incident at the library, but Scarlet had still replayed that conversation over and over again in his head trying to figure out why he reacted so strongly to his words. It could've been finding out Potter had been spying on him, but that wouldn't get him to resort to senseless violence, Scarlet knew he was better than that.

The students were sensible enough to leave him alone, well more so now than ever. Daphne and Tracey hadn't said a word to him about what was bothering him; he didn't have that kind of relationship with them, so they usually stuck to their homework. But even that started to irritate him, was he really lying to himself? Before he came to Hogwarts he'd told himself he didn't need friends, or to care about someone. Tonks had proven to be the exception to that rule but even then it was because they shared something that not a lot of people could relate too. He'd later forged relationships with different people, but Scarlet told himself it was because they'd be useful later on. Did he actually subconsciously start to care about them? Was he just a walking hypocrisy? He shook his head at the thought, there was nothing he could do now, and he could start to think about it once he went home for the summer.

Looking at his assignment he realized he'd need another book. "Excuse me I just need to grab another book Ill be back soon." He stood up and walked down the aisles. Scarlet soon found the book he was looking for and started to walk back, but just as he was about to turn a corner he overheard familiar voices.

"Here it is! Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosophers stones." A female voice said. He quickly recognized as Hermoines.

"The what?" The two boys said in unison.

"Honestly, don't you two read?" He could imagine Hermoine rolling her eyes at their comment. "The Philosopher's stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will transform any pure metal into gold, and produce the elixir of life, which will make the drinker immortal."

"Immortal?" Weasley interrupted.

"It means you never die." Hermoine answered.

"I know what it means!" Ron responded a bit too loudly, causing Potter to shush him.

"That's what's Fluffy guarding on the third floor, that's whats under the trap door, the Philosopher's stone." Hermoine deduced.

Scarlet felt a similar feeling of dread fill his stomach. _'Guess it was about time they found out, now they're really in trouble.'_ Scarlet quietly walked away not wanting the listen to the rest of their conversation, the feeling inside him would just increase, and he would just get frustrated not being able to figure out why.

Seemed listening in on conversations was the theme of the day for Scarlet as he started to hear Tracey and Daphne whisper to one another.

"Come on Daphne, its been two weeks and he's still in a mood, maybe we should ask what's wrong?" Tracey frantically whispered.

"We've already discussed this Tracey! It's not our problem what's Scarlet's feeling. Besides I didn't figure you two were that close." Daphne responded not taking her eye off her parchment.

"Well we're not, but he's our friend isn't he?" Tracey answered.

Scarlet could hear Daphne sigh at her friend's comment. "Tracey one thing you have to know about children raised by purebloods is to always look for an opportunity. Whether to forge an alliance, make more money, or increase your power, they're always looking. Shade is our _friend_ , only because he wants something from us, and he has something he can offer in return." Daphne stated, Scarlet was a bit surprised she got it completely right why he meets up with them.

"Bit cynical point of view Daphne." Trace could only shake her head, she'd known Daphne since they were little kids but that didn't mean they always shared the same viewpoint. "But I think Scarlets different. I've seen the way you interact with him compared to other students in Slytherin house, you laugh with him, you compete with him on homework, even smile in his presence, that's more emotion I've ever seen you display with someone outside of me and your family."

"Tracey this is diff-"

"No!" Tracey interrupted. "Maybe you're right to some extent but I see a lot of similarities between you two. You both have this idea in your head that you need to keep most people away with an icy demeanor, well I'm sick of it! Daphne, I've been your best friend for years, and I've never seen you make an effort to really bond with people, all you ever do is glare at anyone who attempts to join us and scare them off. I enjoy being with you but it gets downright depressing at times when it's just two of us. Why did you think I made such an effort to include Scarlet with us?"

Daphne didn't know what to say after Tracey's speech, but it was evident by her open mouth that she was in shock. She finally managed to regain composure. "Why didn't you say something before?" She quietly asked.

"Because I hoped that you would grow out of it, maybe, later on, you would've, but I didn't want to wait that long, and potentially lose you and Scarlet." Scarlet could hear Tracey start to cry.

Scarlet was still hidden behind bookshelves, so he couldn't read Daphne's face; the girl was surprised at Tracey's words. She had never seen Tracey speak with such emotion before. "I'll think about it." Daphne finally managed to say after being quiet for a few minutes. That seemed to satisfy Tracey and both girls soon resumed their work. Scarlet stayed back for a few minutes not to make them suspicious. He didn't feel like staying long and made up some excuse of not feeling well. In truth he was hoping by meeting up with Daphne and Tracey would take his mind of his current dilemma, it only served to increase it.

XXX

A few days had passed and Scarlet was still confused, he hoped returning to his common room would give him some peace and quiet, but he was disappointed to find a crowd of students gathered inside. The common room was usually busy with students but they were always separated in small groups throughout the room, now it seemed they were having some sort of unified discussion. He made his way over and spotted two people he hoped could fill in what was happening. He waved them over getting their attention.

"What's going on here? The only time I see everyone bunched together in this room is when there's a post-Quiditch party, I don't remember there being a match today?" Scarlet asked the Weasley twins. He noticed for the first time both boys were visibly upset over something, the boys were usually very jovial, so it momentarily caught him off guard.

"Seemed our younger brother cost our house a lot of points."

"You try to teach him as best as you can."

"Especially not to get caught breaking the rules."

"But it's our fault for expecting too much of him." George and Fred both shook their heads. Scarlet still wasn't used to the way each twin would continue each other's sentences, guess it was a twin thing.

"What exactly happened?" Scarlet asked.

"Our brother and his two friends got caught last night breaking curfew." Scarlet figured out Fred was talking about Potter and Hermoine.

"Malfoy caught them sneaking around Hagrid's Hut, and reported them to professor McGonagall" George continued.

' _That explains why she had to postpone our meeting.'_ Scarlet couldn't help but narrow his eyes in thought, because of him Snape had tasked Malfoy to follow the trio, he didn't know how to feel about it.

"They got served detention next week with Filch."

"But worst of all they get penalized 50 points."

"Each!" The twins finished in unison, waving their arms in the air dramatically.

"Those first years ended up costing us the House Cup with that stunt. There's no way we can catch up this late in the year." A young girl joined in. Scarlet felt he vaguely recognized her, she had dark hair and brown eyes, not exactly unique features.

"Scarlet this is our friend Katie Bell, she's also on the Quidditch team, one of our chasers." George introduced.

"Pleasure to meet you." Scarlet offered his hand and Katie accepted it. He looked around trying to find the trio responsible. "So where are the guilty party of three? Figured they could at least explain themselves." He asked.

"Shoot Forge, mum asked us to keep an eye on Ronnikins for the rest of year."

"Indeed Gred, let us find our troublemaker brother!" Both twins dramatically ran out of the common room; probably to not make life easier for their little brother.

"I'm sorry by the way." Katie told him, he hadn't noticed she was still standing beside him.

Scarlet was briefly confused in why this girl was apologizing; maybe she called him the Ice King behind his back? "It's okay it's just a nickname."

"Pardon?" Now she seemed confused this time.

"Aren't you apologizing for the nickname?" He asked.

"Oh! Well, that too I guess, but I was just apologizing because of your friends. I know you four are close, it can't be easy for you." She said. Seeing him show no visible reaction to what she said she further explained. "Well since Harry joined the Quidditch team our team captain Wood asked us to keep an eye on him from time to time since he's only a first year. I've seen you sit with them a lot, figured you four were close."

He couldn't fault the girl's logic, from the outside it did look like they were friends. "Actually we're not friends, we got into an argument over something and I've been avoiding them ever since." He wasn't sure why he was being honest with her.

"Must be pretty big, you don't seem like the type to cut someone loose over something small, like a nickname for instance." She said with a small smile.

"Ron's the one who came up with it didn't he?" Scarlet wasn't angry just curious.

"Yeah, and you know the twins, they ran with it." She said they both sat down on the couch when the students started to disperse out of the common room.

"Remind me to sick Peeve's on them then. I think a few water balloons to the face would be more than fair." He said with a slight smirk on his face.

"I'd love to see that, they may focus their pranks on the other houses, but it doesn't mean we don't get caught in the crossfire from time to time. Bit of revenge is always sweet." She giggled, they settled in a comfortable silence.

Scarlet noticed that Katie seemed to want to say something but seemed reluctant. "Unless you tell me you've been following me as well, which I'll say would be very creepy, there's nothing you can say that'll offend me."

That seemed to ease Katie a bit. "Well, I was just thinking that maybe you should give your friends another chance. Most people aren't happy with what they did, myself included. But right now they could probably use any support they have, most people will be ignoring them for the rest of the year."

Scarlet wasn't sure what to make of it, he'd been told to give people a chance, but his instincts always told him to be on guard. If the stupid trio had followed his advice they wouldn't haven't gotten in their current predicament. Is this what friendship was about? Standing by them when they do idiotic things? Scarlet was starting to see why Rebecca and Jess drank a lot of alcohol while accompanying Tonks on their excursion to London.

"Bit off topic, but why the sudden interest in me? Until right now you haven't said one word to me." Scarlet questioned. He could see Katie sigh; clearly, this was going to be difficult for her to say.

"After one of our team practices, your name came up. You have to admit its very crazy how much you associate with Slytherin, and the fact no one in that house has harmed you, in fact, I'd say you get along better with them than us. Harry defended you by saying that if we had reached out to you at the beginning of the year than maybe you wouldn't have needed to find support from outside of Gryffindor." Katie explained. That had caught Scarlet off guard, Potter defending him? He didn't do anything to warrant that kind of treatment. "I know it's a long time coming but I just wanted to say I'm sorry, I know a few others will come up to you at some point, I just hope you'll be willing to give Gryffindor an honest chance?" She asked hopefully.

Scarlet looked at her for a moment. Something in the way she had spoken to him made him wonder, were students in his house the issue all along, or was it just him. The past few weeks had given him a lot to think about and every time he thought he was close something like this would happen. What if he did give them a chance, the worse thing to happen he's proven right, if not maybe he'll find something he's been missing out on?

Scarlet looked at Katie, and for the first time in the inside Gryffindor tower had a genuine smile on his face. She obviously took that as a yes and wrapped him in a tight hug. She may be small, but the Quidditch practice had given her lot of upper body strength, Scarlet was sure he heard two ribs crack. When she finally let go she stood up and offered him her hand. "Welcome to the courageous house of Gryffindor if there's anything you need don't be afraid to ask." Scarlet accepted her hand, it may have sounded silly but he felt as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders since being sorted into this house. As he looked around he noticed a lot of people looking at him, some nodding, a few thumbs up, he noticed Lavender and Padma whispering to each other and giggle at him, he didn't want to know what they were saying about him.

 **Authors Note: Currently have a bit more time to write as my College is on strike, meaning no classes for the foreseeable future. Finally, the shell that is Scarlet starts to break. He may start to be less harsh towards people, but he's still not ready to follow the trio down the trapdoor. The next chapter will be a setup to the main event. I apologize that this chapter and the next won't be very long, but I'm currently having trouble finding more things to write as the climax approaches. Thank you for your time and see the next chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling.**

Fresh Start Ch 7

" _Tease it."_

 _He grunted in annoyance at the voice, he knew the severity of the situation and needed to concentrate._

" _Tease it."_

 _Great the second one was being just as annoying._

" _Tease it."_

 _He was almost there, the target was asleep. This would be the only chance they had, if they failed then they'd let a lot of students down. Once he had it in place they commenced the plan._

 _Argus Filch was enjoying a peaceful nap; he had just handed that annoying trio of goody Gryffindors to the half-giant. He felt a nap was well deserved at that point. Deep within his subconscious, he could feel a slight irritation, he moved his head away still sleeping. The feeling didn't go away so with barely any conscious to his actions he brought up his hand to clear away the disturbance. Only when his hand met his face he hit himself with some unknown substance, waking him up. It took only a second for the smell to kick in, and when he looked at his hand he realized that was dung on his hand. Some hooligan put dung on his hand and face!_

 _The trio could barely suppress their laughter as they watched Filch run off down the corridor screaming his head off for the culprits. Once the man was out of earshot they busted out laughing. Scarlet had to admit that when he was first approached by the Weasley twins that he didn't think pranking people would be so amusing._

" _Did you see his face!"_

" _Did I ever brother, took the oaf a second to realize it too!"_

" _It was hilarious!" The finished together, then laughing again._

 _Scarlet could only shake his head in amusement. The past week most of the students in Gryffindor had made an effort to help him assimilate into the red and gold house. The twins would always let him in on their prank ahead of time; Katie Bell had taken some time to give him more lessons on a broom, Dean and Seamus had included him in their conversations. Even though Scarlet knew next to nothing about Quidditch teams outside of Hogwarts he could see they were making an effort to include him. If Scarlet was being honest with himself he knew he'd probably wouldn't have meaningful relationships with most of them, but it certainly made his days less lonely._

 _However, his relations with the golden trio hadn't changed. He still didn't care for Weasley or Potter. The redhead's ignorant views on students because of which house they were apart of wasn't something he could put up with. Potter, on the other hand, had proven to be a disappointment after disappointment. As the boy who lived, he didn't show an aptitude for any subjects and was only passing due to the heavy effort on Hermoine's part. Add to the fact as a very private person Scarlet didn't appreciate being spied on._

 _Hermoine was a different matter entirely. There were certain days he felt like clearing the air with her, then other days she was doing things he was against. For instance, the day the three of them got caught after curfew. If she was going to ignore his advice and put herself in danger when he didn't want to waste his time._

" _Well boys, I'd say that was a successful prank." Scarlet said stepping out of their hideout._

" _Indeed, you may have a future in practical jokes yet." Fred chimed in stepping out._

" _Better talent than our younger brother." George said._

" _If only you had red hair, we could secretly switch you with Ron and bring you home instead." Fred joked._

" _Oh really?" Scarlet smirked at them before morphing his hair. The twins were shocked when Scarlet's hair changed color from black to red._

" _Oi Fred! Think we found a genie! Do you give us whatever we ask for Scarlet?" George said excitingly._

" _Shut up you prat." Scarlet smacked George on the arm, before changing his hair back to normal._

" _How did you do that? Didn't think you lot learned glamour charms in your first year."_

" _If they did we'd have gotten into so much trouble with it then." George smirked._

 _Scarlet wasn't sure why he chose to reveal his metamorphmagus ability, he hadn't told anyone outside the trio of Hufflepuffs. It just felt right._

" _Can you troublemakers keep a secret?" Scarlet leaned in to whisper. The twins nodded their heads excitingly. "I'm a metamorphmagus. It's a rare ability only a few people possess. Without using any objects or spells I can change my shape and color to whomever I want." To add emphasis to what he said Scarlet morph himself into a smaller version of Severus Snape._

" _Sweet Merlin Fred!"_

" _Morgana's saggy tits George!"_

" _We can do so much with this!" They said together._

" _Now hold on, unlike your brother I actually have to spend time studying. I'd rather not add detentions to my schedule." Scarlet was fine with a joke her and there, but he didn't want a future career as a jester._

 _The twins hung their head in disappointment._

" _Well since you were nice enough, to be honest with us, we might as well share one of ours." Fred said going through his backpack._

" _You'll enjoy this Scarlet."_

" _This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in this school."_

 _Fred pulled out a piece of old parchment and handed it to Scarlet. He looked at it and was unimpressed. It looked old, blank, and was nothing of significance. "Oi! I want to take my secret back, you stiffed me with this."_

" _Now hold on our naïve friend, not everything is what it looks like." George gently unfolded the parchment in Scarlet's hand, and took out his wand and pointed it at the said parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."_

 _Immediately after the parchment started to fill with lines, Scarlet wasn't sure at first what it was, but then he noticed it take on the form of Hogwarts castle._

" _Alright I admit this is a little cool, but a map of the castle? You've been here for three years do you still need a map?" Scarlet asked._

" _Ah but there's more, look closer." George told him excitingly._

 _Scarlet looked down and noticed dots on the map, but then they were moving. He looked closer and saw names attached to the dots. 'Is this showing everyone moving right now?'_

" _So this map shows everyone?" He asked._

" _Everyone. Where they are."_

" _What they're doing."_

" _Every minute."_

" _Every day!"_

' _I shudder to think what Tonks would've done with this map.' Scarlet was actually impressed at this. He'd wonder who created the map, but upon looking at the names had no idea._

" _Now Scarlet this stays between the three of us, not even our siblings know about this."_

" _Percy would report us to McGonagall faster than you could say, prefect."_

" _Not to worry, just as long you don't tell anyone my secret." Scarlet held out his hand to confirm their agreement._

 _Fred looked at his brother both siblings shrugging. He then spat at his hand and grabbed Scarlet's hand._

" _Bloody Hell! Why in Merlin's name did you do that!?" Scarlet immediately retracted his hand and started to wipe it on his robes._

" _Dad told us that's how muggles agree on things._

" _Said he saw it in a tiny box once."_

" _Ugh, well never do that to me again, just a normal bloody handshake will do." Scarlet muttered before all three began to make their way to Gryffindor tower._

XXX

"Are you alright Scarlet, you seemed preoccupied with something?" a voice said interrupting Scarlet's thoughts on the memory.

He looked up and saw his transfiguration professor sitting patiently, she must've asked him something and he was too busy thinking not to hear her.

"Sorry, what was your question?" Scarlet smiled sheepishly.

"I asked how well your fellow students were treating you. From what I've heard you've been having an easier time interacting with your fellow lions." Professor McGonagall asked.

Ah yes, the question that got him thinking about the prank he pulled the other night with the twins. In truth, the treatment in his house had been considerably well. Scarlet, he seemed happier which was the big difference. His teacher must've noticed him as a smile appeared on her face.

"It's been going well, everyone has been friendly to me, some that I haven't even talked too came up and apologize to me for their comments behind my back," Scarlet said, taking another sip of his tea. If he had to be honest with himself the comments never affected him, he knew the comments about his icy demeanor, or his choice of company, was only rooted from their ignorant views on house rivalry.

"That's good to hear Scarlet, though your grades were already high, to begin with, you seem to be actively enjoying class." She praised him.

Once students started to get a better idea of him, the majority of them wanted to be paired with him. Scarlet couldn't fault them for it, if you get paired with someone who knows what they're doing than the chances of a high mark are probable. It was the reason why he picked his choice in company, with Greengrass and Granger. Though he still felt annoyed with most of them when it was clear that he'd have to do most of the legwork as most students weren't at his level.

"Though I can't help but notice some tension between you and Miss Granger." She frowned. "I know not every student is going to get along with their classmates, but this seems more than that. I'm willing to listen if you feel the need to discuss it."

Scarlet figured she'd find out sooner or later. After the incident on Halloween Granger had sat beside him several times, or close by. But after his outburst, she'd gone to moving to the other side of the classroom, if the students could notice it, then most certainly their teacher would. He sighed inwardly, this wasn't something he wanted to talk about, and he could start to feel the all too familiar feeling of dread in his stomach.

"I don't know why, but I was very upset at her and at Potter and Weasley. I ended up saying some things that she didn't like very much, and we haven't said a word to each other since then." He explained.

He looked at his Transfiguration teacher and she didn't say anything for a few moments. Seemingly trying to figure out how to properly phrase what she was going to say to him.

"As you might be aware Scarlet, you aren't the only student I meet outside the classroom." Scarlet nodded at her in understanding. "One student I meet with just as much as you is Ms. Gragner. I remember one evening, in particular, she came into my office on the verge of tears. Seemed she was upset overhearing a certain student say outlandish remarks. Would I be as so bold as to guess it was you she was referring to." She asked him with a serious look.

Scarlet couldn't help but wince at her tone, he knew Hermoine had been angry with him, but to hear how he was the reason she was crying made him upset with himself. "Yes, that would be me." He hung his head waiting for scolding he knew was to come. Only after a few moments it never did. Scarlet hesitantly looked up afraid to make eye contact with his stern professor, only to be met with her soft expression instead.

"Scarlet, you know what you've said is very disturbing to hear, but is it an opinion you still share?" She asked.

Scarlet looked back to his interactions with the students, he realized he stopped viewing them as something to provide a service for him, and started looking at them as his classmates, and to some even friends.

"No, I think the courageous house of Gryffindor has corrupted me into thinking about other peoples well-being, rather than being self-centered." He joked.

Scarlet saw a small smile appear on Minerva's face. She stood up and walked over to him putting her hand on his shoulder. "Them might, I suggest you tell Ms. Gragner that, you've made quite the impact on her and she dearly misses her friend."

He nodded his head finishing his tea and got off his seat. "Thanks again for the time Minerva. It feels nice talking to someone without the worry of it being the new bit gossip in the common room." Scarlet thanked his professor.

"You're welcome Scarlet, my doors are always open to all my students. I was one myself and I know full well the stress that it could put on." She sat back down at her desk and started to put away the dishes. Scarlet started to walk out of the room.

"Scarlet one more thing!" Minerva said, stopping Scarlet from walking out. "There was another reason I wanted to meet with you this afternoon. Dumbledore had asked me to inform you that he'd like to meet with you."

' _Now I finally get to meet him.'_ Meeting his Headmaster had been something Scarlet had been nervous and eager to do since coming to Hogwarts. Since his arrival, he's seen the influence the old man had on him. By talking to the sorting hat about his sorting, to making professor Snape and McGonagall take a further notice of him both in and outside the classroom. Scarlet figured the man knew a lot more about him, and he wanted to find out what that was. _'Maybe he'll be able to answer a few questions I have.'_

"Should I go to his office right away?" Scarlet asked. He'd like to prepare for the said meeting, but if it were right away there would be nothing he could do.

"No, Dumbledore got a last minute call asking for him to travel to London today, so the meeting has been postponed to tomorrow. Even if he wasn't called to London he would've still set the meeting for tomorrow, the man knows how much preparation you like to do ahead of time, and wanted you to be most comfortable talking to him." McGonagall informed Scarlet.

' _How did he know that?'_ Scarlet was a little annoyed his Headmaster seemed to know him a bit too well, he hoped Dumbledore wasn't one to follow his students secretly, Potter knew how well that action turned out.

"Thank you for letting me know, any advice for the meeting? I want to be on his good side." He joked.

He saw his professor have a small smile on her at his attempt at humor. "When he offers you candy don't accept it. When I went to interview for my current teaching position he offered me lemon drops. Delicious candy, but very sweet. I had most the difficult time trying to speak properly for ten minutes." She told him. Scarlet chuckled at that. "Now I have taken up enough of your time you have exams to study for and I have papers to mark."

She sat down at her desk and started to pull out assignments from her students. Scarlet took that as his cue to leave and started to walk out of the classroom. He only managed a couple steps before the doors burst open, and he saw three all too annoying Gryffindors running towards him.

Potter had given him a small glance before running by, Weasley, on the other hand, slowed down to glare at him, and Granger merely looked indifferent to him. _'Ouch.'_

"We have to see Professor Dumbledore. Immediately!" Potter had said with urgency when he and his friends reached professor McGonagall.

"I'm afraid professor Dumbledore isn't here. He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic, and left immediately for London." Professor McGonagall explained eyeing the three a bit suspiciously at why they wanted to talk to their Headmaster right now.

"He's gone!? But this is important, this is about the Philosopher's stone." Potter explained. Scarlet couldn't help but be further disappointed in the boy; after months of research now was the time they felt it was appropriate to inform the teachers? _'At least they finally found some common sense.'_

Scarlet could see his professor was surprised by the topic of conversation, the stone inside the castle was supposed to be a tightly guarded secret. "How di-"

"Someone is going to steal it!" Potter interrupted.

"How many times have I told you to drop it?" Scarlet felt with a teacher on his side, that maybe he could finally convince them their current course of action was going to get them killed. "You're going to get yourselves killed."

"We can't _drop it_ this is serious." Weasley argued.

"Of course it's serious, unlike you, I told a teacher as soon as possible." Scarlet defended himself.

"Who?" Potter asked.

"Professor Snape and he assured me that the stone was safely guarded, if you had just done that, you'd have saved yourself countless hours in the library." Scarlet argued.

"But Snape is the one trying to steal the stone!" Potter said.

"I don't know where you children got that idea of Professor Snape, but I can assure you that professor Dumbledore has the utmost trust in his potions teacher, as should you three." Professor McGonagall said breaking up their quibble. "I don't know how you four found out about the stone, but I assure you it's perfectly well protected. Now would you go back to your dormitories, quietly." She said dismissing them.

All four walked outside the classroom and into the hallway, there was an awkward silence, none of them were sure whether to continue their back and forth quarrel or just leave period. Weasley was the first to react sending another glare at Shade and walking off. Potter spared another glance at him and chased after his ginger friend, that just him and Granger.

"Hermoi-"

"Just stop. I thought you were my friend, I thought I could trust you. But telling Snape? Going behind my back like that, why would you do that?" She asked quietly.

"Were little kids, I didn't want you to get involved in something this dangerous." He replied.

"Why is that?" She pressed on walking closer to him.

' _Because you're my friend.'_ Scarlet wanted to tell her that but something in him was preventing him from doing so. "Because I've enjoyed our interactions this past year."

"You mean you enjoy using me as a tool to help you." She stated, taking a step back.

"I didn't mean it like that." Scarlet weakly argued.

"I heard what you said!" She shouted startling Scarlet. She seemed ready to start a rant, but something made her stop. She sagged her shoulders and let out a heavy sigh. "I'm not going to stop Scarlet, I don't know if Snape is behind it, or someone else, but I can't stand by and let someone take it. I hope you can at least understand that."

"Stupid Gryffindor courage?" He joked.

That got out a small smile on her face. "Yes, _stupid Gryffindor courage_. You realize that with Dumbledore out of the castle, now is the perfect opportunity to steal it. Knowing Harry he's going to go down there and try and stop him, we could use your help."

Scarlet looked at her saw the plea in her face. Scarlet could see this was her giving him a second chance at their friendship. She wanted him to go down with her because regardless of what he's said and done she still believes in him. Scarlet wanted to agree to it, but the rational side of him couldn't allow it. This whole setup was a trap and if he got involved it would potentially ruin everyone's hard work for the past year. Quirrel needed to be stopped, and they needed to learn what his motives were, was it for him, or was he following someone's orders.

"I won't go down with you." He finally answered. Scarlet could see her disappointed in his answer, clearly, she was hoping for the opposite response. "If you're smart you and your two friends won't go down there tonight." He ended with a warning.

She looked at him for a few moments before slowly shaking her head and walking off. Scarlet let loose a sigh once she was gone. He'd hope she finally take his word on this, but she was stubborn as ever to see this plot through the end, he just hoped it didn't end with her death.

Scarlet felt he didn't want to go back to his dormitory immediately and decided to walk over to the library to get his mind off of the Philosopher's stone. Fate had other plans as he rounded the corner and bumped into someone, he looked up and immediately froze; it was his defense against the dark arts teacher professor Quirrel.

Since Snape's warning about the man Scarlet had taken to interacting very little with him, especially not looking him in the eye.

"Sorry about that, I will be on my way." Scarlet looked down and tried to walk around the man, only to feel his hand on his shoulder stopping him.

"Mr. Shade I wanted to let you know I've enjoyed teaching you this past year. You've easily become my favorite student." The man praised him.

"Thank you for the praise professor, but I really must hurry, don't want to start letting you, or my other teachers down." Scarlet tried to move again but the hand on his shoulder stayed on.

"You're a powerful wizard Scarlet, you have so much raw power, and anyone can notice it." Scarlet could feel some sort of dark aura radiating from the man; he desperately wanted to leave now. "So much power, and so much hatred and anger fueling it, yes. I have many plans for you Shade." Quirrel continued.

"Sorry professor but I make my own plans." Scarlet replied still looking down, but he could feel the man smirk at his response.

"I look forward to our next meeting Shade, I hope you reconsider my plans, I could use someone like you on my side." Quirrel finally lets go of Scarlet's shoulder and walked off.

Scarlet looked up and saw the back of the man walk down, he looked at the back of his head and could start feeling a dark energy radiating off him. There was no question in his mind that he going to steal the stone. The question is what did he mean with all that? It took a few moments to also realize, for the first time he didn't hear Quirrel stutter.

 **Authors Notes: Bit of a short chapter, but its a set up towards the climax which is the next chapter. Bit of a foreshadowing towards events years in the future. Next time Voldemort and Scarlet meet will be very interesting but also won't happen for awhile. Still deciding which year it'll be. I am telling you this now, that the prophecy still pertains to Harry and Harry alone. Scarlet isn't some child that a hidden message points to.**

 **Like I said my school is still on strike so I have a bit more free time on my hands, hope you enjoyed this latest chapter, next one will be posted next week on Saturday.**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Don't usually put this in the beginning, but there is a scene in this chapter which I think some people may not want to read. I'll put a warning at the start and the end to let everyone know.**

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling.**

Fresh Start Ch 8

Scarlet was currently lying down on his bed. It was close to midnight, meaning every student was asleep. Well except for him and three others. He could hear some shuffling past his closed curtains, he knew who was making all the noise. From what Hermoine had told him, she, Potter and Weasley would travel to the third floor tonight and stop whoever was trying to steal the stone.

' _For students trying to sneak out they could've at least tried learned a silencing charm'_ He shook his head at the two boys if it wasn't for the fact that Seamus was a heavy snorer he was sure that they'd probably wake up the rest of their roommates.

Scarlet wasn't sure why he was still up, he'd told Hermoine he had no intention of getting himself killed tonight traversing down the 3rd floor, but yet he was still up. He wasn't going to stop the two boys he was positive at that. But something had been keeping him up.

What changed between his talk with Hermoine and now, was his interaction with professor Quirrel. The man had left quite an impact on Scarlet, the fact he didn't stutter at one point showed that he must've been hiding, pretending to be weak so that everyone would underestimate him. He knew he was probably already on his way down trying to retrieve the stone, it was only logical. The one night Dumbledore wasn't in the castle, who could stop him? Certainly not three kids. _'Hopefully, whatever the trap is will work before the Hermoine finds him.'_

He shook his head at that thought, why was he still worried about her? Scarlet had tried countless times to make them see reason, but yet they still went on. He wasn't sure whether it was a sense of Gryffindor duty or just plain naivety at the situation. Did they actually believe they could stop a grown wizard? A wizard who from the way he talked to Scarlet was working for someone far more powerful than almost everyone in this castle.

Once he had finally calmed down from his meeting with Qurriel he had tried to figure out the man's motive. He had a couple conversations about his DADA teacher with Tonks, Rebecca, and Jess. All three had said he was a kind teacher who took some time off to travel. Whatever happened on his travel had clearly affected him in a severe way. A possible theory was that he has been under the Imperius Curse this entire time, explaining his change in personality. Another one was that Quirrel had joined forces with a dark wizard and or organization, and his mission was to retrieve the stone. Scarlet still wasn't sure what changed the man, but one thing he was certain on was that there were forces outside this castle orchestrating tonight's events.

A door closing had broken Scarlet's thoughts. He slowly got up and opened the curtains to see if the boys finally left. When he saw two empty beds and neither of the boys he knew they'd just left. He soon scooted over to the edge of the bed and got up. He asked himself again for the tenth time why he didn't just go to bed and leave the three to their own fate, but something had been nagging him at the back of his head to get up and follow.

Scarlet cast a silencing charm on his feet and walked over the door, he listened at the door to see if they were on the other side, after a few moments he decided they must've walked down to the common room. He cast a silencing charm on the door to make sure no squeaking noises would alert anyone. He slid out and carefully closed the door behind him. He made his down the stairs leading to the common room. Small voices could be heard in the common room, he made his way down. Scarlet could see the trio with their backs to him and in front of them, doing the one thing Scarlet himself couldn't do, was Neville Longbottom trying to stop them.

If it weren't for the fact he was trying to be quiet, he would've chuckled at the poor boy's attempt. Neville had his fist in the air ready to stop the trio, it was comical. It was no secret Longbottom wasn't very gifted with magic, even with written work the pudgy boy still struggled, everyone in the room knew he stood no chance in a duel, physical violence was all he had left.

"Neville I'm really, really sorry about this." Hermoine said as she pulled out her wand, and swished it a Longbottom. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Scarlet watched as the boy's limbs locked into the place and he fell back onto the ground. Instances like these were what brought his attention to her in the first place, her intellect allowed her to absorb and retain large amounts knowledge and be able to use them properly.

"You're a little scary sometimes, you now that. Brilliant, but scary." Weasley worriedly whispered.

The trio didn't stay for long as they apologized to the boy on the ground and quickly left the common room. Scarlet stayed in place for a few minutes, his last chance to stop them was gone. Scarlet felt that there was nothing he could do now, and hope they somehow survive the night.

It wasn't long before the bind was broken and Neville was slowly getting up, the boy shook his limbs making sure he still had complete control. Not wanting to stay up any longer than needed Scarlet turned around and started to walk back up.

"Scarlet?" a voice said behind him. He turned around and saw Neville looking at him.

"What is it, Longbottom?" He asked.

"Are you going to follow them too?" The timid boy asked.

"Why would I do that?" Scarlet was genuinely curious at why he'd ask that.

"Because they're your friends." Neville simply stated. Scarlet raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the statement.

"After tonight I don't think they'll be alive much to offer friendship." Scarlet simply muttered wanting to go back to bed and end this conversation.

"Then you should do something about it. I know you don't get along with the boys, but Hermoine still talks about you everyday." Neville pleaded.

That caught Scarlet by surprise. _'She talks about me?'_ "Bad things probably."

"No, she says you're an amazing wizard and that Gryffindor should be proud to have you in its house."

Scarlet didn't know what to think even after he said all those bad things to her; she still believed the good in him. The familiar feeling inside him intensified, and he was left conflicted on what to do. To follow them into that blasted floor would mean letting go of everything he believed in when he first entered Hogwarts. That it's better to be alone, don't care about anyone outside of you, don't put yourself in dangerous situations. Scarlet unconsciously rubbed the burned X on his chest thinking about the last point. Then he thought about the past year, how even after not wanted something as trivial as friendship he'd formed genuine bonds with people. Whether he wanted to admit it he'd started to care about those students. No his friends. The reason that he was up right now instead of in bed was that he was worried about his friend.

For the first time in a long while Scarlet let out a full-blown laughter, not even caring Neville was seeing this side of him. He found it hilarious Longbottom of all people got through to him.

"Who's down there!" A female voice yelled above the stairwell. The boys could hear several female voices coming closer.

"Looks like I will be following them, good luck handling the girls Neville." Scarlet passed the boy and pulled out his wand.

"Wait I'm coming too!" Neville started to follow him.

"No offences but you're more of a liability than help, besides I need a distraction."

"Huh?" Neville seemed confused by what Scarlet meant.

"Petrificus Totalus!" For the second time within a few minutes, Neville was on the ground suffering from the body-binding curse.

Neville could see from the ground Scarlet nod to him before running off through the portrait and out of Gryffindor tower. He wasn't sure why stuff like this happened to him but he was sure his night couldn't possibly get worse.

"What do we have here ladies." He spoke too soon. He looked up and saw he was surrounded by a couple of senior Gryffindor women.

"Here I was trying to get some sleep before my exam tomorrow, only for you to cause so much noise down here." One student said, he believed her name was Angelina.

"Think we should teach him not to interrupt our beauty sleep, what do you say ladies?" Another one joined in, Katie Bell he recognized.

"Lavender weren't you telling me it's so hard to find subjects for new cosmetic products, I think we found you a new test subject."

Unfortunately for Neville, the effects of the body-binding curse would hold him still for a few minutes. Once again he asked himself, why him?

XXX

Scarlet could've sworn as soon as he lifted the curse that he could hear a girl screaming, but he had more pressing matters to deal with. He was still halfway towards the third floor and he still had no plan on what to do. Regardless with his help it would still be four first years against a grown wizard, those were not good odds. He needed to let a professor know, but if he tried to find one it would take too much time.

He had just rounded a corner when he saw two prefects down the hallway. Their backs were turned to him so he could easily pass by. Just as he was about to leave he got an idea, he quickly morphed his features, changing from black haired to blue, and made his skin slightly darker. He stepped out into the hallway putting his plan into progress.

"Oi! What are you two dummies standing around while I'm running around the school! Try to catch me!" Scarlet took off running towards his destination. He could hear the two prefects on his tail, his plan was going perfectly. That was when he noticed a stunner fly by his head, he looked behind him and saw that their wands were out and were sending spells his way.

' _Alright didn't plan for that._ ' Scarlet started to zig-zag trying to throw off their aim. Finally, he'd arrived at the staircase on the third floor, he quickly opened the door and closed it. "Glacious!" He pointed his wand at the door encasing the entire doorframe in a block of ice. His hope was that the prefects would quickly give up on trying to get through it, and run off and get a professor down here while he continued to find his friend. After catching his breath he finally had a chance to look around the room. It was definitely creepy, it was dark and looked like it hadn't be cleaned in a while with all the dust and cobwebs around. As Scarlet walked through the hall torches would light up beside him. He soon saw a door at the end, it was unlocked.

Scarlet slowly pushed his way in his wand on hand, he heard enough from the boys to know there was a guard dog on the other side. Prepared to fight off some beast Scarlet was surprised to find what was actually on the other side. For one thing, he was told it was a three-headed dog…there were only two heads on the beast. Where the middle head should be was what remained of the neck and nothing else. He looked over at the other two and saw both were deeply wounded, close to dying.

He continued to slowly walk closer and could see a couple feet away was a hole leading downward, the door to it had been ripped off and thrown across the room. He peered over it trying to see what was down below but all he could see was darkness. "Lumos!" His wand shined bright down the hole and he could barely make out something green. _'Plants?'_ With nothing else in the room, he took a deep breath before jumping down.

Scarlet didn't fall for long and he landed on something that cushioned his fall, once he finally found his bearings he saw he had landed on a plant, or what was left of it. Some of it was still intact, but the majority of it had been burnt to a crisp, clearly Quirrels plan to pass each trap was the use of brute force.

Scarlet jumped off and landed a couple feet away, he saw another door down at the end of the room, just like with the trap door it had been blown off. He made his way over, but when he got close to the hallway, the room started to shake, with nothing to grab onto Scarlet fell down on his hands and knee's and waited for the shaking to stop. Scarlet's first thought that it was an earthquake, but Hogwarts had never experienced those before. What was even odder was that the shaking would stop for a couple moments before resuming again.

He didn't know what was going on, but from the status of the two rooms he's seen, he was hoping that Quirrel wasn't the cause of it. That much power was something him or the trio couldn't match. Once the shaking seemed to stop for longer than a couple moments he started to stand up.

Scarlet slowly made his way to the door slowly, in case of another shock he'd be prepared. While walking through the room he could feel his heart beating faster and faster, his steps started to get slower and slower till he completely stopped just before the doorway. Scarlet looked down at his hand and saw it was shaking, he tried to take a few breaths to relax him but it didn't help.

XXX

" _You're possessed Scarlet, this is for your own good!" The man yelled before throwing his belt at Scarlet. The boy yelled in pain as the belt impacted his chest leaving another open wound._

XXX

Scarlet winced at the memory; he was confused why that memory popped up now. His heart started to beat fast and faster.

XXX

" _The power of Christ compels you!" The boy screamed as the holy water splashed onto his bare skin, the burning sensation on his skin was unlike anything he felt before._

XXX

He leaned against the wall as his heart continued to beat out of his chest. Scarlet didn't notice he had dropped his wand because his hand didn't stop shaking. _'Why am I seeing these again!?'_

 **XXX** **WARNING**

 _Scarlet didn't know how long he'd been tied up for, his parents had left him on the chair for what felt like hours. They had removed his shirt and he started to feel cold. He heard a noise from the other room and he started to get nervous, he didn't know what the man was going to do. For the past three years since the playground froze over, he'd been beaten, burned, whipped, and most painfully cut across his chest, and arms. Scarlet thought before each session he'd be numb to the pain already, but each slice just felt raw and painful and there was nothing he could do to hold his screams._

 _It wasn't fair! He didn't know why he was being punished, he was just playing, and he didn't know how it happened. Scarlet just wanted the pain to end._

 _The door opened and Scarlet looked up to the man of his nightmares walk inside, he had an eerie calm look on his face, usually when the beatings started a serious look would take over his face, but not now. The man walked over to Scarlet and knelt down in front of bring him to eye level._

" _Son, despite my best efforts whatever demon is plaguing you is still in there, every time I have to hurt you it hurts me just as much. You remember how much joy you me and your mother was having three years ago?" He asked._

 _Scarlet struggled to nod, maybe if he agreed to whatever he said he'd let him go and they'd be a family again._

" _That's good, now I brought someone with me, you remember father Gabriel?" He asked. Once again Scarlet nodded, he was too tired to trust his own voice to work._

 _The man got up and yelled to someone in the other room, Scarlet looked to the right and saw Father Gabriel walk into the room._

" _Thank you again, Father, this means a lot to me." He shook the priest's hand._

" _You're welcome Richard, I'll do anything I can do to help your son." Father Gabriel walked over to a nearby table and removed his bag._

 _Scarlet noticed the items Gabriel dugout, first a cross necklace, then a bible, and lastly a long stick with an X attached to it. Gabriel then walked over to the fireplace close by and held the stick into the fire._

 _Richard walked over to the left behind items and brought them over to Scarlet, he hung the necklace around his neck and opened the Bible to a specific page, before reading the passage._

" _Scarlet remember I'm trying to help you son, after this, you'll finally be cured." Richard calmly said not taking his eyes off the book._

 _Scarlet's eyes were still on the holy man, what was he going to do with that stick? His question was soon answered as the man took the stick out of the fire and started to walk over to him. Scarlet started to squirm in his seat; they were going to burn him!_

" _Scarlet this is for your own good." Richard said beside him holding his shoulders down._

" _Please don't do it! I'll be good! I'll do anything please!" The holy man stepped closer and closer to him, holding the stick up at chest level._

" _Please, dad don't! No, no, no, NO!" The man pressed the stick onto Scarlet's chest, he let loose a blood-curdling scream at contact. He'd never felt this much pain in his life; he could feel Gabriel press further into his body, which only increased his scream. He tried to kick the holy man away but all the squirming did was increase the pain._

 _Finally, Father Gabriel let go, but that did nothing to stop the pain in his chest. Scarlet started to feel sick as the fumes of his burnt skin were all he could smell, he ended up puking a couple moments later._

 _The two men stared at Scarlet as if they expected something to happen. Scarlet managed a quick glance at them and could see the clear look of disappointment on their face._

" _Nothing's happening father! The demon was supposed to be gone!" Richard grabbed Gabriel by the collar complete fury on his face._

" _Ca- c-a calm down there Richard, this takes time!" Gabriel hastily said trying to make the man let go. "Let's check on Scarlet tomorrow and see if there's any progress._

 _That seemed to calm Richard down as he let go of Scarlet, he glanced at his boy for a couple minutes before walking out of the room. Gabriel quickly followed trying to hold his lunch down from the smell of melted skin._

 _They left the boy in the dark room, not even concerned for his well-being, all could he think and feel was anger and fear._

 **XXX WARNING OVER**

"I- I'm scared." Scarlet said to himself. It wasn't a question it was a fact.

For Scarlet fear hadn't been something he'd felt in a long time. Of course, there was London, but he wasn't alone, there was Rebecca, Jess, and Tonks right there with him. Now he was in a dark room with a madman not far from him, and all alone. He slid down the wall and onto the floor, tears coming down his face as he buried his head in his arms.

XXX

" _No matter what happens Scarlet you'll always have me. I'll be there to protect you from anything that tries to hurt you." She kissed the boy on the cheek and held him tightly in her arms._

XXX

The memory startled him, yes this was what having friends meant. Never being alone as long as you have them in your life. _'Right now you have one friend that needs you.'_ His thoughts were interrupted by another shake. Scarlet didn't know what it was but he knew his friend needed him. As scared as he is right now, he had to be brave, this wasn't the old Scarlet. If he was going to become a better person he needed not let his past fears hold him back.

Scarlet walked over and grabbed his wand. _'No going back.'_ Once the shaking stopped he bolted out of the room and into the hallway. He passed by a couple rooms each one different from the next. It seemed the professor set up a different room in order to stop someone from retrieving the stone. Unfortunately, they all shared the same fate, broken and destroyed. He finally reached a hallway leading into a very large room, with the shaking increasing as he got closer he could tell the source of his predicament was in there, he took a deep breath and walked in.

The first thing Scarlet noticed was the room in a state up rubble, there were countless boulders along the floor, and giant cracks adjourned the walls and floor. It wasn't long before he could see the source of the shaking. A giant mountain troll was banging his club and body against the room causing mini-earthquakes. Scarlet looked closer and could see the target of the troll's wrath. The golden trio was hiding behind a boulder in the corner of the room trying to avoid the troll.

Scarlet needed to do something quick they wouldn't last long hiding there, he pointed his wand at a nearby boulder. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He lifted a piece of rubble the size of him and hurled it at the troll, hitting it in the back of its head.

The troll turned its head at the new pest and laid its eyes….or one eye at Scarlet. It was the same troll from Halloween! _'I thought we killed it? No wonder it's pissed off.'_ Scarlet started to levitate a couple of smaller rocks threw them at the troll to further enrage it.

It soon got angry at the rocks pelting it and charged at the nuisance. Scarlet jumped out of the way as its club landed where he was seconds ago. He levitated a bigger rock behind the troll and threw it at it. Upon impact, the troll fell face first into the ground caught by surprised being hit in the back. Scarlet held the rock over the trolls back keeping it in place, buying them some time. Scarlet was starting to tire out from the consecutive spells and power being used, his body wasn't used to this strain and he worried he might pass out if he continued.

He quickly made his way over to the trio who were just walking out behind the stone.

"Scarlet! What are you doing here?" Hermoine was the first to see him and ran over to him wrapping him in a hug.

"Saving you three apparently." He started breaking the hug. "We can't stay in here any longer, where's the door?" Scarlet asked looking around the room.

"Over there." Weasley pointed to the other side of the room where Scarlet could make out a part of a door hiding behind pile rubble.

"We tried to move the stone but we can't make much progress with the troll still here." Potter said the boy had a weird look in his eyes as if he was proud of him. Scarlet shook his head he had more pressing matters to deal with.

"We've tried everything, cutting charms, levitation charms, even fire, but nothing gets through the skin! We even tried to use the ice charm like you did but it isn't as powerful as yours." Hermoine shook her head she was going over in her head any spell she might've missed.

The troll was starting to get up; they needed to do something now! That's when Scarlet remembered something. Tonks had taught him some advance spell work during their sessions together, he wasn't able to attempt them because his magical core was still fairly young, but he had no choice.

"When I get the trolls attention I need you three to run to the door. I'll distract it, just get rid of the rubble blocking the door." Scarlet said, holding a tighter grip on his wand.

"That's bloody suicide! You can't beat that!" Weasley said, in a rare form a concern for him.

"We don't have time! If I do this at least you three can escape." Scarlet said back, not taking his eyes of the troll, which was starting to get up.

"No Scarlet we can think of something else!" Hermoine pleaded grabbing a hold of his arm trying to stop him.

Scarlet looked over at Hermoine and could see tears coming down her face; he couldn't help but smile at her. "Thank you." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. That got the reaction he was hoping for as he felt her grip on his arm slacken.

He immediately ran off towards the troll yelling to grab its attention. He levitated another rock and hurled it at the beast gathering its attention. Scarlet ran over to the other side of the room with the troll closing in.

XXX

Once Hermoine heard Scarlet start screaming she broke out her stupor and tried to run over to him, only to be stopped by a hand wrapped around her.

"No, let me go! He needs our help!" She cried out, fighting against whoever was holding her. But it was a useless fight as the second set of arms started to drag her over towards the door.

"No Hermoine, you'll get yourself killed, he can handle himself." Harry said trying to comfort his crying friend.

"Scarlet…." She whispered as she lost sight of her friend behind the rocks. _'Please be okay.'_ She thought to herself.

XXX

Scarlet was quickly running out of room, with all the fallen debris he didn't have much space left to run in. He needed to create a lot of space between him and the troll and the trio. He wasn't sure how big of a radius this would be but he didn't want too accidentally hurt them in the process.

If it weren't for the fact his life was being threatened he would've stopped to think how strange it was. A couple of weeks ago he wouldn't have cared about them, now he was risking his life for them, and truthfully he only considered one a friend.

Scarlet jumped to his left as he saw the troll make another swing at its club at him. He got up and ran off, but soon he reached a dead end. There were large rocks in every direction except the one behind him, and all were too high to climb over. This was where he'd make his final stand.

He took a slow breath and turned around and saw the troll 20 feet away. Even with its low intelligence, it could figure out its prey was trapped. It started to walk slowly over to him almost as if it was taking in the moment before squishing its prey.

' _Either I die, or I live and Tonks is going to kill me for being so stupid.'_ Scarlet chuckled to himself at the thought. The idea of an angry Tonks made him almost want the troll to kill him, but he'd never give up like that. He raised his wand, and carefully performed the right movement; he saw his wand glow ice blue. The troll was almost on top of him ready to strike, this was it. With everything he had, he poured all his magic into this spell.

"GLACIOUS DUO!" A bright blue cold air shot out of his wand and straight at the troll engulfing the beast. The spell was so powerful it started to push Scarlet back, but he planted his feet and held on. He noticed the troll slowing down as his body was being encased in ice Even the surrounding area was being covered in ice; parts of the ceiling were being affected. He still didn't let go, he knew he was exhausting a dangerous amount of his magic, but he needed to finish the beast for good. Soon the entire half of the large room was covered in ice and Scarlet felt the spell start to slow down until stopping completely.

He leaned against the wall and saw as a troll encased in ice stood before him. He noticed his body start to shake as the temperature in the room continued to drop. His legs buckled and landed roughly on the ice, he was too tired to register the pain he was feeling. He tried desperately to stay awake, he wasn't sure this would be something he'd be able to wake up from.

Scarlet quickly notice the ice statue start to move, and dread filled him. _'Merlin be damned! I put everything in that and its still alive!?'_ It didn't matter though, the trio had to have moved out of the room long ago, and he was too exhausted to move his body. He prepared himself for the moment the troll would break out. As the statue started to move he noticed it was falling backward. It continued to fall until it crashed into the ground, breaking into multiple pieces.

Scarlet smiled knowing he did it, he saved his friend and could happily die knowing he did something very few wizards his age could do. He closed his eyes and let the darkness envelop him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything in the Harry Potter universe.**

Fresh Start Ch 9

When his _father_ had spoken about the afterlife he'd told Scarlet about moving on from your body, that you'd travel to the great beyond with nothing weighing you down if you lived a good life…Then why did he feel so tired?

Scarlet tried to move his body but his limbs weren't responding, he could hear noises in the background, voices maybe, but it was unclear to tell. He wasn't sure where he was; the last thing he remembered was passing out on the floor, so where was he now? The man had talked about another place, a fiery hell. Would be ironic a freezing spell would send him to the hottest place in the world, but so be it. Which only confused him since he didn't feel hot, in fact, his body felt like it was lying on something soft.

He once again tried to move his limbs; he could feel his arm move slightly, it must've been noticeable as the voices grew louder, he could hear them all saying the same word, what was it? He tried to listen.

"Scarlet!"

People were calling out to him, he tried to say something but his mouth wouldn't work, so he tried to move again. This time he could move his arm slightly more, that in turn only caused the voices to get louder.

"Scarlet! Come on wake up!"

It sounded like….Tonks. So with everything he had he tried to force his eyes open, a blinding light welcomed his efforts, he preferred it when he could only see darkness. The light soon disappeared as pink blur entered his vision, he moved up slowly trying to get a better look.

"Easy there Scarlet, your body is still tired, just lay down." A soothing voice said.

Yes, lying down was good. It was nice, relaxing, and easy. His vision soon focused and he could see multiple people standing around his bed. To his right was Tonks, she looked happiest he's ever seen her, but he could see her eyes were very red, had she been crying?

He looked over and saw Jess and Rebecca by Tonks side, they looked just as happy as her. He could only barely smiles in return, hoping to appease them. Scarlet continued to look around and saw Tracey at the foot of his bed, and to his surprise was Daphne was right beside her.

"Wotcher ladies." He said weakly, his throat felt very dry.

"Wotcher Scarlet, you had us worried." Tonks said beside him. Jess walked over to the other side of him and held a glass of water by him, he moved his mouth and drank it quickly, and it felt so refreshing, he nodded to her when she took the cup away.

"How long have I been passed out for?" He asked.

"A couple days, we all came as soon as Dumbledore told the school what happened." Rebecca explained.

Scarlet was a bit surprised by that, the teachers had made an effort to keep concealed the fact they were hiding something in the school. He wondered how much the Headmaster really shared with the students.

"What did he say?" His curiosity was peaked; he wanted to know how much was told.

"Dumbledore said professor Quirrel was trying to steal something from the school, and that you Potter, Weasley, and Granger stopped him." Tracey informed him joining in on the conversation.

' _That's smart, didn't mention the stone by name, didn't want to cause a panic then.'_

"What about the others? Are they alright?" Scarlet wasn't sure what happened to them after they separated.

"Those idiots-" Tracey elbowed Daphne in the ribs at that comment. "Your friends all turned up in the infirmary just like you. Gragner and Wesley's injuries were minor, while Potter woke up just hours before you and was already discharged." Daphne informed him.

He nodded at that, his plan worked then. "I'm a bit surprised you're here Daphne, I'm happy don't get me wrong, but a bit personal don't you think?" He still remembered Daphne's promise to maybe make a better effort at friendship with him; he could at least try to have some fun. He noticed his words had the desired effect as Greengrass blushed in embarrassment at the attention, and Davis's laughter didn't help the girl.

"Yes well, someone-" Tracey elbowed Daphne in the ribs again. "Tracey! Told me I was having my head up my arse, and knocked some sense into me." She said, Scarlet could see Daphne was genuine in her words.

"I think we both had our head up our arse's, maybe we should give this crazy thing called friendship a try." Scarlet suggested.

He could see Daphne mockingly considering it. "My time is very valuable Shade, what is in it for me?"

"I'll buy you whatever sweets you want when I go to Hogsmeade next time." He offered, Tonks had mentioned chocolates are the best way to get on a girl's good side.

'I believe that's a worthy compensation for my time." Daphne agreed.

"Awe! I think it's sweet your buying your girlfriend candy already. I've taught you so well!" Tonks teased. Scarlet had completely forgotten she was right there. The teasing he'd have to endure for the rest of the term!

Scarlet groaned in annoyance, he looked over and saw Daphne twitch her eye at Tonk's comment. Tracey's laughter wasn't helping. Greengrass may be trying to break out of her shell for him, but she was still a pureblood and had to act composed in public.

"Is she always this irritating?" Daphne asked through clenched teeth.

"Always, if it wasn't for the fact she was teaching me advanced spell work, I'd have left her a long time ago." Scarlet joked.

"Oi! Don't talk about me as if I don't have feelings!" Tonks wiped a fake tear in her eye. Scarlet couldn't help but roll his eyes at her.

"Speaking of advanced spells, Madam Pomfrey told us your magical exhaustion was due to you using a spell well beyond the knowledge of a first year." Jess spoke chiding him.

Scarlet couldn't help but gulp in fear; he'd been hoping everyone would forget that little fact. He could feel the tone in room shift and everyone was giving him a serious look. With no way out, he decided to tell the group everything since Halloween all the way until that night down below, omitting a few personal details like his fear and the philosophers stone, but giving them an idea of what happened.

No one said anything for a few minutes taking in what Scarlet said. What could they say? No one knew there was something hidden underneath the school until it actually happened.

Tonks was the first to say something. "I don't know whether to knock you silly on the head, or be proud of you for doing what's right." He could see a real tear fall down her face, as she moved closer putting her hand on his arm for comfort. "But I think I speak for everyone in this room when we say we're proud of you, and glad you're still with us."

"It's true!" Tracey joined in. "Without you here, I'd be left all alone with the Ice Queen over here."

"Quiet you!"

"Just next time, tell one of us. I know the idea of friendship is something strange and uncomfortable for a boy like you but were her to help." Tracey finished.

"I think that's the nicest thing I've heard someone from Slytherin say." Rebecca joked.

"Not all of us are pureblooded bigots, we just want to mind our own business and get through the school year." Tracey informed in a rare form of seriousness.

"Excuse me?" A voice said behind the curtain.

Everyone looked over to see brown hair girl emerge from behind the curtain.

"Glad to see you're alright walking about Hermoine." Scarlet mentioned seeing his friend. He couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"Same can't be said to you, honestly what's with boys and their hero complex." She chastised. That got the group of girls to laugh at her comment. Scarlet wanted nothing more than to hide underneath the blanket, but he was a big boy! He'd face this head on.

"Don't be too rough on him sweetheart, its built into them to always save a pretty girl from danger." Tonks joked winking at her.

"Well maybe next year I'll be the one to save you, Scarlet." Hermoine said moving closer to him.

"If it means trading places right now, then I'll gladly be your damsel in distress." Scarlet joked. Both laughed at that, Scarlet was glad to see there was no more tension between them, he'd missed this.

"Thank you, for everything. I don't know if we'd make it out alive if you hadn't distracted the troll." Hermoine grabbed his hand.

"Anytime." He squeezed her hand bank. Scarlet meant those words, he hated the feeling of just standing by and watching as his friend purposely put herself in danger, next time if something like this hadn't he wouldn't hesitate to join in. Of course, he'd like it if they at least planned ahead of time, but one issue for now.

"Mr. Shade!" A voice yelled breaking the moment.

The curtains were thrown back and Scarlet could see an angry Madam Pomfrey staring at him, with all the talking he'd forgotten just where he was at the moment.

"I told you all you could stay here as long as you want, as long as you inform me the moment he woke up!" Madam Pomfrey rushed over to his side and started to perform diagnostic spells over him. Everyone had a sheepish look on their face.

"Sorry, we all got worked up in the moment, if you'd come earlier you'd see it was a very emotional ordeal." Tonk said trying to escape the wrath of the healer.

Pomfrey didn't bother with a response and continued with her spells work. Once she was satisfied she walked out to grab a potion and handed it to him. It smelled awful. "I want you to drink every drop, with any luck you could get out of here tonight, and still have days to study for your exam."

Scarlet groaned at the thought of exams, he'd have to spend the next couple days in the library to be fully prepared. With a sigh, he swallowed the contents of the potion in one gulp. It tasted exactly how it smelled, and he had to hold in his gag unless risk it all coming back up. Satisfied with the result Pomfrey grabbed the bottle out of his hands and walked off to tend to other patients.

"Seeing as you're already taken cared of, I think its time I got some food in me." Tonks patted for stomach for extra emphasis.

"A hungry Tonks is a bitchy Tonks." Jess muttered before walking off.

"Oi! You would be too if you were hungry!" Tonks ran off after waving goodbye. Rebecca shook her head at her two best friends antics and waved goodbye before joining them.

Leaving four first years together there was an air of awkwardness.

"Hermoine this is Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis. Tracey, Daphne this is Hermoine Granger." Scarlet introduced trying to break the silence.

"Pleasure, I've noticed you in the classes we share. Very studious student." Hermoine said trying to get a good first impression.

"Likewise, not every day you see muggleborn perform better than most purebloods in this castle, I think you hurt a couple of male egos." Tracey winked.

Hermoine seemed happy at that comment. "Yes, I believe I have." All three girls were soon laughing, but Scarlet could tell that Daphne was forcing it a bit.

"Hate to have to interrupt this, but I and Daphne have herbology class in a couple minutes." Tracey said.

"We'll see you out of this room soon Scarlet, don't think just because you're a hero that we'll help you make up for the lost work." Daphne said, he told she wasn't being serious; she winked at him before walking off with Davis in tow.

"Nice friends you have there." Hermoine muttered when the two Slytherins were out of earshot.

"Nice friends for a couple of slimy snakes don't you agree?" Scarlet asked.

"For your information, I never gave in to Ron's prejudice views on Slytherin, but you have to admit they aren't easy people to approach." Hermoine responded, taking a seat beside his bed.

"No, I agree with you on that. Greengrass nearly chewed me out trying to sit at her table. I saw something behind her mask that somehow attracted me to her, I look forward to getting to know her the next six years." Scarlet said.

"And where do I fit in your six-year plan?" Hermoine asked in mock seriousness.

"Following your savior like a lost puppy." Scarlet joked. Hermoine couldn't hold in her giggles at that comment.

"I'm sorry about not listening to you." Hermoine said after she calmed down. "As rash as your tactics were, you were right. We almost didn't make it out alive if it weren't for you."

"I'm just glad your safe." Scarlet could've scolded Hermoine for being reckless these past months, but at the end of the day, he was just they both survived this ordeal.

They broke into a comfortable silence between them, there wasn't anything that needed to said. His actions the other night had proven to her who the true Scarlet is, and she was happy to finally have him as her friend again. However, there was one thing still bothering here.

"Um, there is one thing I need to talk to you about." Hermoine said breaking the silence. Scarlet noticed she was deep in thought trying to find a way to speak her next words carefully.

"What is it? Don't tell me you're wondering if pink is Tonks natural hair color. Get enough blokes asking me that and it becomes difficult to concentrate after awhile." Scarlet said trying to unwind her.

"No, its Harry and Ron. I talked to them about what happened, and I believe you three need to give each other another chance." She stated. Scarlet raised an eyebrow at her comment; she knew his dislike for both boys. "You showing up the way you did, really gave the impression on you, more so to Ron. I don't know how but Harry looked like he expected you to come that night. Point being, I would like it if you three put aside your differences and try to get along." She finished with conviction.

Scarlet wasn't sure what to do, he hadn't gotten along with the boys, he merely tolerated studying with them for Hermoine's sake, but could he actually forge a friendship with them? Ron's view on Slytherin house on a whole would be something they'd have to work past. Scarlet figured Potter would be easier since they owe one another an apology.

He looked over a Hermoine and could see her looking at him, waiting for an answer. He wanted to say no, he really did, but he knew he'd be falling into old habits. He sighed heavily and nodded his head.

That put a giant smile on her as she stood up and wrapped him in a hug, he wasn't sure when they're friendship started to include hugs but right now he was too tired to care.

"Thank you, thank you, and thank you! I already talked to them they're willing to try too." She said, her voice muffled by his shirt.

"I apologize for interrupting the moment." A voice said.

Scarlet looked past the bushy hair and saw the man that had been plaguing his thoughts all year. Albus Dumbledore.

Hearing someone behind them Hermoine quickly let go and addressed their headmaster.

"What are you doing here professor?" Hermoine asked.

"I wished to see how Mr. Shade was recovering, I hope you don't mind the unexpected visit." Albus said sitting down beside Scarlet.

"No, seems everyone is coming and going here." Scarlet didn't know how to feel talking to the man. He'd wanted to talk with him before but he'd been nervous about the answers his Headmaster might give him

"Ms. Granger would you mind giving me and young Mr. Shade some time, there are a couple of matters I'd wish to discuss with him." Dumbledore asked.

"Of course. Scarlet hope to see you at dinner." She waved goodbye to him and left the infirmary leaving just the two of them left.

Neither spoke for a few minutes merely staring at one another. Scarlet didn't trust his voice to not sound nervous, talking to a person of Dumbledore's stature he wanted to appear and sound as confident as possible.

"Safe to say this conversation is long overdue, may I call you Scarlet?" Dumbledore said finally making the first move.

"That's fine." Scarlet simply said.

"I imagine you have certain questions to ask?" He continued. Scarlet nodded, he had a lot of questions he needed answered. "Then I promise to answer them to the best of my ability."

"How do you know me? Everyone at Hogwarts told me you mentioned my name to them as if you know who I am, but I've never heard or seen you before coming to this school." Scarlet asked, he sat up to get in a better position.

"In truth I know very little about you Scarlet. When you came to Hogwarts that was the first time I'd seen you since you were a couple months old. However your parents I know fairly well." That wasn't the answer Scarlet expected but he kept quiet letting the man continue speaking. "Steven and Susan Shade were students at my school years ago, Susan always had a natural talent at Hebology, while Steven was a star on the Quiditch field, though not that magically gifted as other students, they were a joy to teach."

"That still doesn't explain how you know of me right now." Scarlet could see the man sigh sadly at his comment, since arriving here Dumbledore looked very tired and looked his age.

"During the war, numerous pureblood families were approached by the dark lord for their loyalty. Shades included. They, however, chose not to follow him, and instead join the group that I'd formed to combat Lord Voldemort." Scarlet was surprised he'd said the name so willingly and without flinching slightly. Everyone was too afraid to say the name as if it was taboo.

"During the remaining months before Voldemorts defeat the Shades had you, they were so joyous of their child, and they'd been trying for years to conceive a child. Susan and Steven learned quickly that you were special Scarlet. When a child is young it normally takes a few years before they start-displaying forms of accidental magic, however, you Scarlet was showing it weeks after. The true signs of a very powerful wizard to the eye of most people. Unfortunately for your parents, the other side found out about their gifted child, not wanting you to be used against them they launch a full-scale assault on their ancestral home. By the time we arrived it had already been too late, we had managed to save you but your parents were already dead, and your home was burned down." Albus explained sadly.

Scarlet could feel a lump form in his throat, he was the reason they were dead. If he'd just been a normal child his parents would still be alive, and he wouldn't have to live with those muggles. He didn't know what to say to what Dumbledore told him, was there anything to say to killing your parents?

Scarlet felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up and saw Dumbledore looking at him sadly. "I know what you must be thinking, but it isn't your fault. No one blames you for what happened, and I know for certain your parents don't either; they loved you very much and gave everything to protect you."

Scarlet sat there thinking about it, he knew it was the Voldemorts fault his parents were dead, but he still knew he was the catalyst for what happened, it would take time for him to accept it. "Is that how I got my scar?"

Dumbledore looked at his left eye and was quiet for a few moments, Scarlet wasn't sure what to make of it."When we found you, you were gravely injured, when we saw the blood covering your face we feared the worse, we were thankful we had someone on hand who had a gift for healing spells." DUmbledore explained.

"What happened next?"

"It was decided that in order to protect you, that you would be placed with a muggle family. The Ministry was worried that if they placed you in another magical family they too would meet the same fate as the Shades." Albus further explained.

Scarlet couldn't help but curl his hand into a fist at the thought, he needed to know who's idiotic idea was it to put him in the bloody home. "Who placed me with those muggles?" He asked through clenched teeth.

"In all honesty, I have no idea. To the public, we didn't release the information on who adopted you. To this day people have no idea as to your current whereabouts the past few years. In private it was decided that you'd be housed within a muggle family, however, who exactly made the decision only the Minister of Magic at the time knows. In order to keep it as secretive as possible only two individuals know, the person who placed you in the muggle care, and the Minister at the time. I apologize if that isn't the answer you were looking for." Scarlet wasn't sure how but he could tell Dumbledore was holding something back.

"You may not know where I was placed, but you know where I live currently?" Scarlet took a shot in the dark and asked.

Dumbledore looked at Scarlet for a few moments before finally speaking. "Yes, I do. You caused quite the havoc in the Ministry when you disappeared four years ago; Minister Fudge had paid me a personal visit requesting I aid him in the search for you. Alas, our efforts were for naught as we were unable to locate you."

"Then how were you able to send my acceptance letter?"

"That's quite a simple explanation, there is a device in my office that's charmed to write down the name and current address of every child who displays a gift for magic at the age of eleven. Once your name was written down we knew where you were, I'll admit the amount of power taken to get there past all the wards would kill most wizards, but you, however, were able to do so as a child, extraordinary." Dumbledore seemed excited at Scarlet's accomplishment, looking back it did take a severe amount of accidental magic to apparate that long of a distance. "Of course when we found out you're whereabouts Fudge wanted to immediately take you into custody and make you a ward of the Ministry. I however as muggles say _talked him down that ledge_. I made an agreement with him." Dumbledore said.

"What kind of agreement? Not the one where we sell our souls kind?" Scarlet asked. That got the man to chuckle a bit before continuing.

"No, nothing of that severity. As long as you are a student until you reached majority you'll able to continue living at your current home." That put Scarlet's mind at ease, he'd been worried coming into this meeting that he would be told he'd have to go back to those muggles, or to another family. He'd like living where he was now; he liked the seclusion it included, though now that he'd form personal relationships with people he wondered if he'd still the solitude.

"But that still doesn't explain how you know me? Or better yet, force me into Gryffindor house." There were still a lot of unanswered questions he needed to know before the year ended, and only Dumbledore could tell him.

"Scarlet do you mind if I tell you a story? I promise it relates to your situation." Dumbledore asked him.

Scarlet nodded at the man's request, he wasn't going anywhere.

"Back when I was a teacher at Hogwarts I was tasked with delivering an acceptance letter to a peculiar student. This student didn't have a family and grew up isolated in an orphanage. When I first met the young boy, the level of magic he was able to display at such a young age astounded me, but I could tell there was something within him that he was hiding." Scarlet could help but narrow his eyes in thought; already he could see similarities to the boy of mention. "When the boy entered Hogwarts he was sorted into Slytherin house, the house, in particular, is notorious for its cunning, manipulations, and the politics involved within its rooms. On the outside, the boy was a perfect student, excelled in all his classes the teachers adored him. Unfortunately, the habits that I'd hope he'd drop being in an environment of people his own age didn't. Instead, it manifested, to the point where he didn't pursue friendships and bonds, but only alliances and partnerships with students."

Scarlet was starting to have an idea of where this story was going, and how it related to him. "What happened to the boy."

He could see Dumbledore sigh sadly, his shoulders started to sag, and once again it reminded him of how old his Headmaster was. "He died. He was overcome with the pursuit of his goals and ambition and lost sight of what truly mattered, and died because of it." Dumbledore walked over to the pitcher of water beside him and poured himself a glass before drinking it.

"Scarlet as you already had figured out I saw a lot of similarities in you both. The four houses in Hogwarts would all be proud to have had you join them but I felt Slytherin, in particular, wasn't right for you. I was worried that in the chance you were sorted into Slytherin house you may have faced the same fate as him. That instead of opening yourself to other people as you have done so this year, that you would instead further secluded yourself. I apologize if it appeared that I manipulated you in any way, but I'm just an old man who didn't want to repeat the same mistake twice, can you forgive me?" Dumbledore asked,

It was a lot to take in for Scarlet; he knew the man had some involvement in his sorting, but not to this degree. Scarlet wasn't sure how he felt. He'd obviously done what the Headmaster had hoped for; he'd indeed formed relations to numerous students, not just his own house. Scarlet couldn't help but wonder what his life would've been like in Slytherin, would he have thrived in the game of politics, or would he have fallen in the background and hid in the shadows, while boys like Nott and Malfoy fought for control. It did, however, remind him of something.

"Is this why professor Snape has been forthcoming with me? I've heard rumors of his disdain for Gryffindor's." Scarlet asked. If he'd originally been meant for Slytherin he could see why his Potions teacher would tolerate him.

"Yes indeed, I'll admit Severus was furious to find out he lost a remarkable student, to Gryffindor especially." Albus admitted with a soft chuckle.

Scarlet couldn't help but laugh, he would be angry too, he was just thankful his professor didn't target him in class. "Just one more question professor."

Dumbledore had a smile on his face as his eyes twinkled. "You want to know what happened with the Philosopher's stone?" Scarlet was a little freaked out he guessed correctly, though he could've sworn he felt a slight tinge in his head, he'd leave as just a lucky guess.

"Yes, and not the watered down version you gave everyone else, I nearly died protecting that rock I at least should know what happened." Scarlet sat up straighter trying to make his point as strong as possible.

"After your collapse, Harry managed to come face to face with Quirrel. The man was after the stone for his master. With the help of very powerful blood magic, Quirrel was killed upon trying touch Harry, I arrived just as he passed out. The stone afterward was deemed too dangerous, and was destroyed." Dumbledore explained getting up.

"Who was his master?"

"Lord Voldemort." Dumbledore simply said. That took Scarlet by surprise, wasn't he supposed to be dead?

"After Voldemort failed to kill Harry back in 1981 his body was destroyed and he was left as a spirit in this world, he needed a host to survive and he had one in Quirrel. I believe Voldemort planned to use the stone to bring himself back."

"Is he still out there? Or did Potter kill him for good?" Scarlet was slightly worried and was hopeful for the former.

"No, Voldemort is still out there, though very weak. I believe it'll be awhile before he makes another attempt." That calmed him down a bit; he didn't how to feel if every year Voldemort tried a different attempt to attack this school. If this risking his life was becoming a regular occurrence he'd be dead, not long from now.

"I wouldn't worry yourself over it Scarlet, I assure you myself and the teaching staff are fully capable of handling any who threaten Hogwarts and her students." Scarlet was starting to become unnerved at how Dumbledore seemed to know what he was thinking, maybe it comes with age.

"I'm afraid I've taken up much of your time Scarlet. Pomfrey is well known to take utmost care of her patients, and encourages them to relax; I can see our conversation has done the opposite." Dumbledore apologized, though he didn't look apologetic.

"It's not a problem professor, I'm glad to finally have some answers thank you." Scarlet thanked the man.

"My office is always opened to those that need me, enjoy the rest of your day Scarlet." Dumbledore left and since waking up Scarlet was left alone.

It was a lot of information to take in; he didn't expect Dumbledore to be so forthcoming with his answer. Actually thinking about it he did expect it, just maybe he would answer it vaguely or in riddles. Regardless Scarlet was happy he now had a better idea of what happened, he still felt guilty over what happened to his parents, but knew he would need time to move on from it.

Scarlet took out his wand and cast Tempus, and saw it was around midday, Pomfrey had told him she'd be keeping him in here for a few hours, he needed to do something to pass the time. He looked around saw Hermoine had that covered as well, or maybe it was Daphne? He didn't care he was just happy a couple of his schoolbooks were on a small table beside his bed.

Scarlet grabbed the first book on top and opened it to where he last left off. It wouldn't be for a few minutes before he realized Dumbledore didn't mention one important fact to him. _'Who was the student he was talking about?'_

 **AN: A bit more talking this chapter, and Scarlet finally comes face to face with Dumbledore. A bit more of how Scarlet came to be is answered, and he's forging relationships with others. Just because he's willing to give Harry and Ron a chance doesn't mean it's going to go smoothly second year. One more chapter for the first year and then we can move on to the enxt year, which I'm very excited about.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything in the Harry Potter universe.**

Fresh Start Ch 10

The end of term exams went off without a hitch for Scarlet, he managed in almost all his classes _Outstanding's and E_ xceeds Expectations, except for one class. Looking back he had to admit it was his own fault for receiving only an _A_ in History of Magic. How Hermoine would be able to stay awake and take diligent notes in that class would be one of life's great mystery.

After the excitement that was the other night, the week of exams felt a bit tame in comparison. Scarlet had checked with others to see how well they fared. It was no surprise to see that Daphne and Tracey did well in all of them, potions especially. Hermoine, as predicted, did just as well, surprisingly enough Potter and Weasley had managed to pull off an Acceptable in potions class, Snape must've been feeling generous that day. Scarlet was most excited to learn how well the three Hufflepuffs did on their NEWTs finals. He didn't have to ask as when he stumbled up them doing some sort of victory dance in the hallway he was confident they did well.

It was the students last night in Hogwarts and Scarlet felt conflicted, before coming here he had enjoyed living in his secluded home, but now that he'd formed so many relationships he wasn't sure how'd he feel when he got home.

He continued walking to the Great Hall when he saw the golden trio up ahead. He hadn't talked to them since he woke up in the infirmary; even then it was just small talk, asking about one another's injuries.

"Scarlet!" Hermoine had turned around and saw him walking towards him, she waved him over.

"Wotcher everyone." Scarlet greeted.

"Hi Scarlet, we were just on our way to the Great Hall, want to sit with us?" Hermoine asked.

Scarlet nodded but he knew she was trying to get him to talk about what they said earlier. "Potter, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for punching you." There he said it, now how this would go would be up to the boys.

"Its okay, I shouldn't have spied on you, I was just worried you were in danger from Snape, but after that night I realized how wrong I was, how wrong all of us were." Harry said. He nudged Ron with his elbow.

"I'm sorry too, I was wrong about you." Harry nudged Ron again. "I'm sorry about calling your friend's _slimy snakes_ too." Ron apologized; though Scarlet could tell it was very difficult for the redhead to admit.

"Why all don't we start over, if we'd work together in the beginning things may have gone a lot better." Hermoine said, looking at him then Harry and Ron.

Ron shrugged his shoulders in agreement, and Harry stuck out his hand towards Scarlet. _'This better not bite me in the butt._ ' Scarlet reached out and shook his hand. He could see Hermoine had a big smile on her face. Though Scarlet agreed to give them a fair chance at friendship, there was still some hesitation on his part, he couldn't just drop a year of their antics but he would try.

They soon reached the Great Hall and took their seats in the middle of Gryffindor table. Scarlet looked over and saw the hall decorated in Slytherin green, a clear indicator on who won the house cup this year. After being caught after curfew Gryffindor didn't recover from their 150-point penalty. Though he was the one who told Snape to keep an eye on them he didn't feel bad, he was only doing what was right, they got punished for breaking the rules.

Once the Great Hall was full professor McGonagall started to tap her glass indicating everyone to quiet down. After everyone started to stop talking Dumbledore rose up and began his speech.

"Another year gone, and now as I understand it the House Cup needs awarding, and the house points stand thus. In fourth place, Gryffindor with 322 points, third place, Hufflepuff with 352 points, second place, Ravenclaw with 426, and first place with 472 points Slytherin." Scarlet wasn't surprised that once the first place house was announced only the students in green were celebrating, he still clapped politely, he wasn't a sore loser, but he could see his housemates were disappointed with the outcome.

"Yes, yes, well done Slytherin, well done. However recent events must be taken into account, and I have a few last minute points to award." The Great Hall broke out in whispers over this revelation, Scarlet had a gut feeling he knew what it was Dumbledore was talking about, and if so his current standing with Snape and Slytherin house may crumble because of it.

"To miss Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis. For promoting friendship between Slytherin and Gryffindor houses, 25 points each." Slytherin house continued to applaud, and Scarlet could see that this award surprised Daphne and Tracey, though the former was able to hide it well. It took a lot of courage for those two to stick by him, even if one had to have some sense knocked into her. Gryffindor and Slytherin never had the best relations and for students from both houses to make an effort would hopefully go a long way. Scarlet was proud to call both girls his friends and clapped vigorously with the rest of Slytherin house.

"Second to miss Rebecca Tomlinson and Jess Brown. For showcasing's Hufflepuffs many great qualities, 25 points each." Both girls were both blushing at all the attention they were receiving; Scarlet would always remember what they did for him in London. Not knowing why, and for what reason without hesitation came to his defense, and showed him the kindness he'd never seen before, he'd always be grateful to them.

"To miss Nymphadora Tonks." Scarlet chuckled at Tonks reaction to her name being said loudly to everyone, she looked ready to jump over the table and towards their Headmaster "it is not easy to find time to help those who need during your final year of Hogwarts, and it takes a remarkable person to be there for someone in their hour of need, 50 points." For the first time Tonks had nothing to say, no witty reply, or sarcastic comment, but shock.

Scarlet looked over at her and saw she was looking back at him; he nodded at her and clapped with everyone. If there was one person who impacted his life the most it was she. To take time out of her busy school life and to help him with his problems meant a lot to him, with training in his metamorphamagus abilities or working on advanced spells she was the reason he did as well as he did this year. Most importantly they shared a bond that formed in London, she was the only one he told his secrets too, she didn't judge him, scold, did nothing but show him love and kindness, there wasn't anything he could do to repay her for all she's done for him. Scarlet wiped a quick tear from his eye, he didn't want to do this in public, he noticed that Tonks saw what he did and she winked at him.

"Next to miss Hermoine Granger, for the cool use of intellect while others were in grave peril, 50 points." Their relationship this past year would be compared to what muggles called a rollercoaster. First, he found her annoying, then learned to appreciate her intelligence and genuine personality, then came her insistence to uncover the mystery of the stone. Scarlet wasn't sure why he put himself through all this work for one person, but maybe it was what came with growing up, changing who you are as you get older.

"To Mr. Ronald Weasley, for the best-played game of chess, Hogwarts has seen these many years, 50 points." Scarlet still wasn't sure what the redhead brought to the group, aside from the title of _bumbling sidekick_. But if Hermoine saw something in him, then there must be some appealing trait to him.

"To Mr. Harry Potter, for pure love, and outstanding courage, 50 points." Like Ron Scarlet still wasn't sure about the boy. The boy had blown away his expectations by handling Quirrel by himself, but there was still alarming things about him. For instance his less than impressive magic, and its knowledge of the subjects. Both of which were average.

"And finally, Mr. Scarlet Shade, for overcoming obstacles life throws at you, I award Gryffindor house 60 points." Scarlet didn't know what to say, he didn't think he did anything special but try to survive his first year, but when he looked around, he could see the people who he impacted and had an influence on him. _'Doesn't hit you until the very last moment.'_ He looked over at his friend's, Tonks was by far the loudest standing up and clapping, Jess and Rebecca would've been clapping as well if they weren't trying to restrain their colorful friend. Even Daphne and Tracey were clapping though from the outside it looked more of form a curtsey than anything else, but the wink the blonde threw his way told him otherwise.

"Assuming my calculations are correct, I believe a change or decoration are in order." Dumbledore clapped his hands and the green and silver Slytherin banners changed to gold and red Gryffindor ones. "Gryffindor wins the House Cup!" The entire table of lions stood up in celebration, it had been seven years for a house outside of Slytherin to win the cup, and Gryffindor was going to enjoy it. Following Tonks outburst of celebration, Hufflepuff stood up in celebration, soon followed by Ravenclaw. The majority of Slytherins didn't cheer, but a fair amount did clap out of respect, more than anyone would've thought. The group of four looked over and saw Dumbledore raise a glass at their victory.

XXX

The train station was packed full of students trying to deposit their luggage and find an open cabin, Scarlet clapped himself on the back for apparently being the only one to pack his bags ahead of time, as he was sitting comfortably in a cabin looking at all the students rushing to get on.

"I told you, Tracey, Scarlet hates crowds and was one of the first to get here, now we don't have to look for an empty compartment." The door to his compartment opened as Daphne and Tracey walked in.

"No come in, I woke up early just to save you two seats." Scarlet said dryly.

"Humor doesn't suit you." Daphne said taking a seat across from, with Tracey sitting beside her.

"You said that the first time we met, and even eight months later it's getting old." Scarlet drawled.

"You are just not a good listener."

"And you like the sound of your voice a bit too much."

"I have the voice of an angel."

"More like a banshee, but I'm not judging."

"I at least put more emotion into my voice."

"Monotone isn't an emotion Ice Queen."

"Take that back!"

"Make me."

The last thing Scarlet expected was for Daphne to lunge at him from across the cabin. A prim proper pureblood like Greengrass would never engage in physical violence, it would bring dishonor to the family!

Scarlet eventually had to tap out as she had him in a headlock, and he was missing the joyousness of being able to breathe. Once she did let go he slowly climbed back into his seat taking deep breaths, he glared at the blonde across from him. She had the nerve to give him an innocent look in return! Vengeance would be sweet.

"You know most couples hold hands, but at least you two are engaging in physical contact." Tracey said giggling.

If it wasn't for the fact that Davis knew the both of them, she'd be currently withering away from the cold looks Scarlet and Daphne were giving the red head.

"Moving on from…that. What are your plans for the summer?" Scarlet asked both of them.

"My parents are taking time off from work so that we could go away for a few weeks, Blaise invited me to his home in Italy." Tracey said, even talking about it she excited.

"I didn't realize you and Zabini were close?" Scarlet asked. What he didn't expect was a small blush to form on the girl's cheeks. He looked over at Daphne and saw a smirk on her face.

"We got partnered in Herbology class and we got to talking, he's actually not that bad, even if his mother has a bit of a reputation." Tracey muttered the last part.

"Reputation?" Scarlet asked.

"Blaise's mother is a widow." Tracey informed him.

"Okay, that's not something to have a reputation about." Scarlet was confused.

"Six times." Daphne said joining in.

"Pardon?"

"Countess Zabini has been married six times, and each husband has met an unfortunate end…accidents of course." Daphne quickly finished.

"I'm presuming all of these _lucky_ gentlemen were in the upper tier of society?" Scarlet knew the answered but had to ask anyway. Both girls nodded.

"Well good luck Davis and let us hope the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Scarlet raised an imaginary cup at her.

"Daphne isn't the only one who could kick your arse." Tracey glared, in a rare form of anger; Scarlet quickly apologized and scooted a bit further from her.

"My family isn't doing much this summer, we'll probably be venturing off to our summer home for a little while, but not much else. My parents are a bit busy running our import-export business." Daphne said.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but the magical world isn't that large, I can't imagine it would be busy like that?"

"Normally you're right, however, my father realized they could increase their business if they did dealings with muggles, however when you meet him don't mention that, he gets on a long rant about how revolutionary his idea is blah blah blah." Daphne drawled the last part; clearly she had been on the receiving end of these rants multiple times.

"Wait, meets him?" Scarlet questioned.

"Yes, he wrote me several letters on how he'd like to meet with you, he'll be waiting at King Cross Station." Daphne said.

"And you didn't mention this before why?" Scarlet was starting to get annoyed, she knew he likes to be preparing for this.

"I've been told I can be rather stuck up, so I thought how amusing it would be to see you panic." Daphne chuckled at his reaction.

"Of all days for you to gain a sense of humor." Scarlet shook his head at her.

"Fine. Since you clearly are upset by this turn of events I'll give you an advance notice." Daphne knew that would get Scarlet's attention. "My father would like to invite you to Greengrass Manor on the 25th of July." Daphne said,

"What's special about the 25th?" Scarlet inquired.

"My birthday of course." Daphne said simply.

"I'm sure it will a joyous event." Scarlet said. Daphne narrowed her eyes at him, she wasn't sure if he was being serious or making fun of her, better to glare just in case.

"What happens during events like these, is that pureblood families use it as a chance to connect and mingle, so expect to receive quite a few eyes on you." Daphne said.

"Considering the fact I'm a twelve-year-old boy who has no idea how to manage my families assets, why would people want to talk to me?" Scarlet asked.

"Kind of answered your question already." Tracey said. "My guess is part of the reasons is for them to see if they can manipulate you." Tracey guessed. Daphne nodded in agreement.

"There is more to it. Scarlet, you have to understand that if Potter wasn't in the same year as us you'd have been the one in the spotlight this year." Daphne stated.

"Why?" Scarlet felt dumb for asking.

"It doesn't happen often but when a young heir or heiress loses all their guardians, numerous families will step in and offer to take them in as their ward. With them being their new guardians they could have indirect access to their wards wealth thus increasing their standing in society, and if they're so bold, they may sign you and their child up to a marriage contract." Daphne explained, she pulled out a heavy book from her trunk and opened it up to a page detailing most of the ancient noble families in Britain. "Now how this pertains to you is that no family got an opportunity to make a claim, you simply vanished. The only explanation anyone got was that you were housed in a family and that their identities would remain a secret for their safety, then you show up in Hogwarts after a decade missing and are at the top of your classes, along with being able to perform powerful spells for a boy your age. It raises questions."

Scarlet mentally scoffed at his paternal figures safety, as far as he was concerned they could suffer for all they did to him. Though this new revelation did give him a lot to think about, whoever relocated him did so that he wouldn't be raised in a pureblood home, but why? What was to gain separating him if when he turned eleven would return to the magical world.

Scarlet shook his head at the thoughts, it wouldn't do any good worrying right now, he had pressing matters to attend, for instance, Daphne's birthday party. "So how expensive are you expecting my gift to be?" Scarlet didn't want to hear the figure the girl would decide on if her wardrobe and scent was anything to go by she had expensive taste.

Daphne appeared to jokingly think of a number, he looked over and saw Tracey giggling at her friend's antics.

"I'd say 100 galleons at the minimum, I have a reputation to uphold." Daphne said.

"Of course." Scarlet silently groaned, not at the price but having to pick out a personal gift.

"Don't interrupt me!" Daphne scolded. "Where was I? Oh yes. Since I haven't given you a gift for your birthday date, it would hypocritical of me to expect something grand from you. Just give me your date and I'll be sure to send something appropriate so that you can return the favor." Daphne explained.

"Your selflessness knows no bounds." Scarlet muttered. "As to answer your question my birthday already past."

"When was it?"

"May 25th."

"Why didn't you tell anyone? I could've written to mom ask her to send me her homemade brownies!" Tracey exclaimed, Scarlet had to scoot further away from her, afraid she might make good on her promise of physical harm.

Scarlet didn't want to tell them that it was because he had no one to celebrate with, they were both under the idea he was being raised by people, and he didn't want to air his secret out in public.

"Everyone was studying for their exams, I almost forgot too if it was for the mail I received that day." Scarlet lied, it seemed to work as Tracey seemed to back off, though he could see Daphne had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Anyway I best be off, I promised a few people I'd talk to them on the train ride back to London, I'll be back here before we arrive." Scarlet waved goodbye to the two girls and exited the compartment.

Scarlet remembered them talking about the back of the train so that was where he started. He eventually found Harry, Hermoine and Ron sitting in a compartment with Neville as well. Scarlet didn't stay for long they had already discussed putting their differences aside and merely settled for mundane topics and what everyone was going to do for the summer, he did notice that Potter was purposely vague around him, but that just fueled the mystery on thy boy wonder. He quickly said goodbyes to everyone promising to write to them during the summer and left off to find the last group he'd been looking for.

It didn't take him long to find who he was looking for and entered the compartment housing his favorites trio of Hufflepuffs.

"Wotcher Scarlet." Tonks was the first one to notice him.

"Wotcher ladies, I see you couldn't wait to celebrate." Scarlet noticed all three had glasses of wine on hand.

"Mhmm, want some?" Tonks offered him the bottle.

"Tonks! You're supposed to be responsible for him!" Jess scolded snatching the bottle out of her hand.

"I am responsible!" Tonks declared, but Jess and Rebecca stared at her in disbelief. "Would you rather sweet innocent Scarlet having his first drinks with a couple of naïve boys in the 3rd year, or right now under the supervisions of highly mature Hogwarts graduates?" Tonks asked while snatching the bottle back.

"Can't argue with that logic." Rebecca muttered before sipping her wine.

Scarlet walked over and sat beside Jess, he'd never expressed an interest in drinking, but this was an opportunity to see what all the adults were fussing about. He looked at Jess trying to give her his best innocent look, she eventually groaned in defeat before handing it to him, he carefully grabbed. It slowly tipped it over his mouth and took a small sip, how bad could alcohol be?…..It was awful.

Scarlet immediately chocked on the taste, how could anyone drink that stuff? He looked over at Tonks and saw her and Rebecca on the ground laughing at his reaction; vengeance would be sweet on all of them!

"I don't care if it was a waste of good wine, your reaction was hilarious!" Tonks laughed still on the floor.

Jess was nice enough to hand him a cup of water once he stopped coughing, he thanked the girl before pouring it down his throat quickly.

"Pleasure to know you got on the last joke on me before you officially leave Hogwarts." Scarlet muttered glaring at his pink haired friend.

"Trust me, you'll be missing this once you start your second year." Tonk said.

Scarlet had to admit it was true, Tonks made his first year very memorable, all three did. It would be strange knowing he wouldn't be able to see them as often as before.

"True, but I think it'll be hilarious having to see you act mature and serious in your job." Scarlet smiled.

Tonks scoffed at his comment. "Me, serious and mature? I'm already am that, but it's just more fun to joke around. I mean if no one had that we'd all be Snape!" Tonks shuddered at the thought, they all did.

"I'm actually excited to starting my internship at St. Mungos always wanted to be a healer, it'll take a few years but I'm sure I'll make it." Jess said, Scarlet remembered with her grades she could pursue any time of career, he was happy with her choice.

"I still think you two are wacked. I on the other hand now free of school will travel the world, there are so many magical communities I wanted to see all of them." Rebecca said, finishing her wine. Scarlet remembered often Rebecca would mention several different schools across the world, Beauxbatons, Durmstrand, and others. It was no surprise she wanted to see all of them and more.

"Wish you both luck, hopefully, we'll see each other soon." Scarlet said.

"Worst thing about Tonks is that once she's set her eyes on you there's no escaping her, we'll see each other soon." Jess winked at him.

"Oi! Don't make me out to be some sort of stalker!"

"Do you want me to tell Scarlet about your first boyfriend." Jess challenged. Tonks had a look of pure horror on her face.

"We agreed we wouldn't speak of it." Tonks whimpered.

"Then sit down, and shut up." Jess joked, immediately a smile broke down on Tonks face and both girls were laughing.

"I'm too impatient to wait for the food trolley, Jess want to come with me?" Rebecca asked standing up.

"Sure thing." Jess agreed, both girls walked out of the compartment leaving just the two of them inside.

"It'll be strange not seeing you on the train next year." Scarlet said.

"For seven years this has been my life routine, now that it's over it feels strange." Tonks agreed.

"We will see each other again, right? I know you'll be easy training in the Auror Academy for the next two years." Scarlet asked uneasily.

"Of course! I meant what I said that night; I'll always be there for you. But you have to remember that you have other people that care about you as well." Tonks got up and sat beside him. "That's why I wanted you to make an effort in meeting new people, I was worried you were becoming too attached to the three of us, then come next year you were back to how you first came through those doors. Now you have Daphne, Tracey, and Hermoine, not to mention I heard what Susan and Hannah have planned for you next year." It wasn't often that Tonks expressed this serious side to her, but every time she did Scarlet knew to truly listen.

"Should I be worried?" Scarlet jokingly asked.

"Of what? You're surrounded be very pretty witches, when you get older you'll be such a ladies man." Tonks teased.

Scarlet couldn't help but laugh at that since he's met her, Tonks has always made jokes about him and the opposite sex. Some he could vaguely understand, others just went over his head. The thought of dating never entered his mind, with the drama of the Philosopher's Stone, there wasn't time, and even now it was an idea he didn't want to entertain. Scarlet felt he was too young for that, he just turned twelve, he didn't want to worry about that. But as he looked over and saw Tonks laughing, he did wonder what it would be like to date her.

XXX

Scarlet stayed with Tonks for a few more hours, they talked about what they were going to do over the summer, they agreed to see each other a couples times, her training didn't start until September. She even told him how she was coming up with ways to communicate with him that was better and faster than just writing to one another.

Jess and Rebecca joined them afterward after being gone for a suspiciously long time, at that point the compartment turned into a mini party. Scarlet felt sad he had to leave but he'd promised he would return to his own cabin before they arrived at the station.

It wasn't long after that the train started to pull in. Tracey had said goodbye quickly to them and was the first to get off. The scene upon exiting the train was heartwarming after months apart families were reuniting. Scarlet saw a father pat his son proudly on the shoulders, while he saw a mother wrap her daughter in a hug and kissing her cheek. Scarlet couldn't help but feel jealous at the scenes around him, just once he wanted to know what it was like.

"Come on, they should be close by." Daphne tugged on his arm leading him through the crowd.

It was difficult to push through past the crowd; Scarlet and Daphne weren't very large and often got bumped into. Soon they finally reached the end of the mob pit and Daphne started to look around for her family.

"Daphne!" A voice yelled.

Scarlet looked over and saw a small girl with dark hair jump into Daphne's arms crushing her in a hug. They stayed that well for several moments, Scarlet stepped back to give them some semblance of privacy in a crowded station.

Soon the hug was broken up and the small girl noticed him. Scarlet could easily see the resemblance, the eyes and facial features were close, but whereas Daphne was blonde, this girl had dark hair, he figured inherited from her father.

"How did you get that scar?" The girl's question broke him out of his thoughts.

"Astoria!" Daphne scolded.

Scarlet hadn't been asked that question in awhile, most students were too afraid to ask, while the teachers were respectful enough not to ask. Though he did receive a lot of stares early on in the year, he just ignored it.

"I'm sorry Scarlet, my annoying little sister knows better than to be rude to people." Daphne said glaring at her sister.

"I was just curious." Astoria muttered.

"It's alright Daphne, I honestly don't know. I've had this thing on my face since I could remember." Scarlet answered honestly.

Astoria beamed at his answer, while Daphne got irritated at him for indulging in her little sister's curiosity.

"I'm Astoria Greengrass." The girl introduced herself.

"Scarlet Shade nice to meet you." He replied.

"Where are mum and dad Tori?" Daphne asked while looking around them.

"I kind of wandered over here, I was getting tired of waiting for you to show up." Astoria answered leading them.

"Mums going to scold you for running off." Daphne said closely behind her, but Astoria just shrugged her shoulders. Clearly, this wasn't the first time they've had this conversation.

"Astoria! Daphne!" A voice called.

Scarlet looked and saw a tall woman walking towards them. She had long blonde hair styled in a tight bun, the same blue eyes as the girls, and wearing a casual red dress. Scarlet didn't have to think hard to imagine what Daphne would grow up to look like if her mother was any indication.

"Astoria I told you before not run off." The woman waved her figure at Astoria.

Astoria's shoulder slumped at her words. "Sorry mum, but look I found Daphne!" She pointed over at Daphne.

The woman looked over at Daphne and her softened, she walked over and wrapped her daughter in a hug.

"My you've grown so much, you're hardly my little girl anymore." The woman broke up her hug and looked Daphne over, much to her daughter embarrassment.

"Honey you're embarrassing her." A man said walking over.

The man who Scarlet guessed was Greengrass's father was an intimidating man. He had his dark hair gelled back and a neatly trimmed beard, to add to his impressive appearance was a very expensive black suit, Scarlet couldn't help but feel very much underdressed in his dress shirt and black jeans.

"Thanks dad!" Daphne said walking over and hugging her father.

"You're right Isabelle Daphne is no longer a little girl." The man laughed. He let go of his daughter, and his eyes quickly found their way onto Scarlet. "You must be Scarlet Shade, my daughter has said so much about you, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Cyrus Greengrass." The man introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Scarlet shook Cyrus's hand. He couldn't help but grin at Daphne for her father's comment, causing said girl trying very hard to not look him in the eye. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage Daphne hasn't said much about her family."

"My daughter can be a bit cold to strangers." The man laughed, causing Daphne to be further embarrassed by her parents.

"I'm well familiar with her personality, I hope she said good things." Scarlet chuckled, causing even further laughter.

"Yes she did, Daphne's always been an excellent judge of character, she gets that from her mother." Cyrus whispered him to him the last part.

Scarlet noticed Cyrus start looking around them for something. "Where are your parents? I'll admit I was slightly curious to whom your guardians are."

Scarlet knew this question would pop up, and just hoped Cyrus couldn't see through his lie. "They were busy with a prior engagement." Short simple, and vague enough to work with.

Scarlet could see the man frown and look at Scarlet for a few moments, he started to worry the man didn't believe him.

"Maybe another time then. Since you and my daughter have gotten to know each other this past year why don't you come over for dinner one night, the 25th of July. I'm hosting a party, a couple of families are coming over as well for Daphne's birthday." Cyrus offered.

"We didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves earlier, my name is Isabelle Greengrass." Daphne's mother walked over and introduced herself.

"Scarlet Shade." He replied.

"Well we've taken enough of your time, I'm sure your parents wouldn't like you staying later than necessary." Isabelle commented.

"It was nice to meet you all, and I can't wait to visit on the 25th." Scarlet waved goodbye to the Greengrass clan. He was glad the meeting went well, he wasn't sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised, and looked forward to their next meeting.

He was just about to reach the exit when he noticed the Tonks, Jess and Rebecca and their families talking to one another; he made an involuntary step over, but quickly took it back. He didn't want to intrude on their celebration, this was their day. Scarlet quickly turned around and exited King Cross Station. He was in such a rush that he didn't notice Andromeda look at him while leaving with a frown on her face.

Scarlet walked over to a deserted portion of the rode and held his wand in the air requesting the night bus. It quickly appeared he got on paid for his fair and requested to go home.

The trip didn't take very long and he was soon on the doorstep of his home. It was in an isolated part, the nearest homes were ten minutes away. Scarlet unlocked to door and walked in, he looked over and notices it hadn't changed since he left. He dragged his luggage over to the living room and sat down on the couch. Ten months ago he would've been thrilled to be back here, but now it just felt empty, alone.

The house wasn't very big, but for one person it was more than big enough. The Shades had bought and furnished this home in case they needed somewhere to hide from Deatheaters.

He no longer had a house elf, Zinko passed away not to long after he accidentally apparated here, the elf was over 200 years old.

Scarlet sighed sadly to himself, grabbed his luggage over to his room, which even the size of it made him feel small for the first time. It was going to be a long summer.

 **Authors Note: At the beginning of this project I didn't think I had it in me to continue this story for so long, but I've found the motivation to do so and I'm not stopping anytime soon.**

 **This chapter officially ends the first year and will lead to the summer. Where I'll spend 2 or 3 chapters setting up the second year, which I'm really excited for. One thing I should note that yes even though all is "forgiven" between the foursome, it doesn't mean they are going to be a well-oiled machine moving forward. There are still a lot of issues and secrets between them which still need to work out, which will come to a head in the second year. One of which is Harry and Ron's prejudice views on Slytherin, considering Scarlet is friends with two and next chapter will meet and interact with a whole lot more.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything in the Harry Potter universe.**

Fresh Start Ch 11

The first few weeks of summer had been routine for Scarlet. He'd wake up, make himself something to eat, then fill most of his time finishing his summer assignments. There was the odd day where he went out to buy more food, but aside from that nothing of interest happened.

That changed when an owl he didn't recognize fly over past an open window and crashed into his wall, then falling down in front of him. Scarlet had only received letters from two different senders, the first being his acceptance letter form Hogwarts, the other being Gringotts giving him his monthly banking statements, even though he had no idea what most of the numbers meant even with the goblins help. Staring at the unknown owl Scarlet was uncertain on who the sender was, he quickly untied the letter from the old bird and looked at the sender, it was from Hermoine.

 _Dear Scarlet_

 _Hope you're doing well, sorry for not replying earlier but my parents and I went on vacation in America, I tried my hardest to find any indication of magical communities but was unsuccessful._

 _I hope you haven't been lazing around like Ronald has been; the boy will probably do his work last minute on the train unless I say something! He was kind enough to let me use his families owl to deliver this letter to you, my parents are both muggles and didn't warm up to the idea of keeping a bird in the house, even though I find Harrys pet owl Hedwig to be a beautiful bird._

 _Speaking of Harry I haven't received any letters from him, nor has Ron. We both have sent him letters as well, but no response. Has Harry written to you? If so then tell him to write to us!_

 _Moving on I had to make this short, I am using someone else's owl and it would be rude of me make this long, I asked Errol to wait for you write a response, I wasn't sure if you had one of your own, you probably do, how would your parents exchange messages without them?_

 _Anyway hope to hear soon! I asked my parents and they said your welcome to come over whenever you want! You could help me with the DADA assignment, you were always more proficient in that class than me._

 _From Hermoine_

Scarlet didn't expect to receive a letter, he knew that's what's friends do, but never expected to get one, it was nice. The news about Potter surprised him; he didn't seem like the person to just forget about his friends, there had to be something. Scarlet chuckled to himself imagining what Snape would say about this.

" _Potter is too busy answering his fan mail to write to his know-it-all friend."_

Though the mention of his parents did irk him a little bit, he wasn't sure if it was still a topic he wanted to discuss with her or anyone. Life had finally calmed down and bringing it up may disrupt his life.

Scarlet walked over to his room and grabbed a parchment and quill, he kept the message short as possible to not keep much of the owls time. He wrote about his summer so far, and how he'd started on his assignments, also mentioned having not received letters from Harry, and promised to write more. He tied the letter to the owl's leg, gave it a treat and watched it fly off.

With the owl crash landing into his living, it had given Scarlet the idea of getting his own owl, he'd never had a reason to use an owl, but now circumstances changed. It fit perfectly as he had been meaning to go to Diagon Alley and pick up a gift for Daphne.

He quickly got changed and traveled by knight bus to Diagon Alley. It had been a little over a year since he'd been here, it hadn't changed much, if anything it had gotten more crowded, he recognized most of the shops, they hadn't changed. It wasn't until he hit Ollivanders that made him pause instep.

At the time of buying his wand, he wasn't clear on the shop's owner words concerning his wand. Ollivander had told him his wand was an indicator of strong loyalty to his friends, and protectiveness over them, at the time he had no friends, or want friends so how he came up with that story confused him.

Scarlet pulled out his wand and reexamined it. It was made of Reed wood, with dragon heartstring core, and 10 inches. A year ago he didn't really care what the wand meant to him, as long as it didn't interfere with his magic. Now he could understand what the shopkeeper meant. Even though he'd been at odds with Hermoine it was his friendship with her that convinced him to follow her. He chuckled to himself at how naïve he was and continued walking down the alley.

He made a quick stop to Gringotts and withdrawal an appropriate amount of Galleons, his first plan was to buy Daphne's gift, as carrying a cage bird for a long time sounded very unpleasant. He wasn't sure what kind of gift, he thought maybe perfume, but he had no sense of what ladies liked. Jewelry was another option but he felt they weren't that close, and could give her the wrong idea.

He stopped in front of an antique shop, he shrugged and walked in, couldn't hurt to check. Scarlet didn't see anyone inside not even a shopkeeper; he walked around and looked at the items on the shelves. There wasn't anything impressive or stood out; he was quickly giving up on the idea of finding anything. He was on the last shelf when he stumbled upon something.

It was anything special but a hand mirror, but on the back was a giant snake coiling around in a circle, what sold him on it was the fact it was green and in good condition.

"Excellent choice." A voice said behind him.

Scarlet quickly turned around with his wand pointed at the stranger. She was fairly old and didn't appear to be a threat, so he lowered it.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I own this shop." The lady moved around him and gently took the mirror from his hand; she looked it over and seemed satisfied with it handing it back to Scarlet.

"My late husband picked that out, said he found it travel through Cambodia. Legend said that the mirror upon the right handler could display power." The lady started to lead Scarlet through different aisles. "However that was 90 years ago, and not one person who's touched it felt anything, so it's only a myth." That caused the lady to laugh at her own comment.

"Regardless whether it's magical or not, it's very beautiful how much could I buy it for?" Scarlet asked feeling the serpent that was on the back.

"I presume it's a gift?" The lady asked behind the counter.

"I'd like to think I'm not narcissistic enough to keep a mirror with me all the time." Scarlet mused.

"No, but humor doesn't suit you." The lady commented.

' _What's with everyone and my type of humor?'_ Scarlet was annoyed that the lady made the same comment as Daphne.

"10 Galleons seems fair." The lady offered.

Scarlet handed the lady the money, he was about to walk off when she spoke again.

"It means a lot when you add the card." She said before walking off.

Scarlet couldn't help but feel something was very wrong with the women, but he'd found what he was looking for so he made his way out.

With still some time left, he decided to buy some more supplies since he was here. One stop, in particular, was Madam Malkins, going to a fancy party; he knew he needed better dress robes. He was fortunate enough that she was currently free and he had himself fitted and bought 2 different ones.

The last stop on his list was Eeylops Owl Emporium. The store wasn't too packed; Scarlet figured the shop was mostly busy around the end of the summer with kids picking out last minute pets. He made his way over to where they kept their owls. He was a bit stumped on the whole selection process, usually, when shopping for supplies he'd pick the ones in the best condition, but how do you pick the best owl? He looked over at them it was hard to gauge them locked in cages, but just as he was about to select one by random he stumbled upon one in particular. It was the only one in the lot that had black feathers; it was also the one that wasn't hooting at the other birds, it didn't look bored, just looked complacent.

Scarlet couldn't help but smirk that the bird that closely resembles him is the one he wanted. Maybe he was wrong when he was telling the lady he wasn't narcissistic.

He brought the caged bird with him to the counter, the man seemed surprised of his choice but didn't voice his argument when Scarlet paid for it. He didn't want to bring him on the Knight Bus, the shopkeeper told him that owls are smart birds and would find his home. So Scarlet reluctantly opened the cage and watched as it flew away, he sighed in annoyance at the thought he might've lost his bird already.

It wasn't long before he was proven wrong, just as was walking up the front steps into his house he saw it on the window ledge, making itself at home. Once the owl saw him it flew off and landed on his shoulder, Scarlet felt the sting of the talons on his shoulders but knew he'd have to get used to it. He walked inside and placed him in the living room.

"Going to need a nickname if you're going to be living here." Scarlet muttered. The black owl just looked at him, as if he was waiting. "Since you have dark fur, you won't be noticeable at night, so how about Ghost?" Scarlet asked.

Ghost seemed to like the name as it flew off and landed on his shoulder, and lightly nudged him with its wing.

"I know you just got home but would you be up for delivering a few letters?" Ghost just looked at him, as if it could question its ability to do its job. "Of course, silly me." Scarlet muttered pulling out another parchment and quill and started to write the first of many letters.

XXX

Scarlet looked at his reflection in the puddle once more. He was currently dressed in his new dress robes. The Knight Bus had just dropped him off, and he was currently in the front of the gates leading to Greengrass Manor. He would soon be in a room with a lot of prominent families, all of whom would ask him countless questions. After he was satisfied with his appearance he walked over to the gate, Daphne had sent him a written invitation and part of it included him being allowed past the wards.

Scarlet could've flooed over but that would have involved connecting his fireplace to Greengrass's, but that would've involved sharing his location with them. From his first interaction, they seemed like a fine family, it was just anyone could find out.

He made it to the front steps and knocked on the door when it opened he saw a small house elf open the door. "Hello, my name is Scarlet Shade, I received an invitation."

The small elf looked him over. "Yes, Master Greengrass said to expect your arrival." The elf opened the door completely and let him in.

The lobby was grand, polished, and spoke of enormous wealth, Scarlet couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated. The elf motioned for him to follow it, and he got a chance to look at the décor of the house. For a big home it felt comfortable, it was filled with family paintings, and the color was bright.

They stopped in front of a large lounge area, Scarlet could see the room filled with numerous adults, all-socializing with one another, and he didn't see any children around. Scarlet was worried the whole birthday event was a ploy to get him in private.

"Master Greengrass, Scarlet Shade has arrived." The elf announced.

Scarlet was annoyed at his announced presence; it put him in the spotlight, with everyone looking at him. He took a deep breath and walked in, quickly making his way toward the host.

"Thank you for the invitation, Mister Greengrass." Scarlet shook hands with the man.

"Pleasure is all mine Scarlet, thank you for accepting." Cyrus said.

"Scarlet so good to see you." Isabelle drew him in and kissed him on the cheek.

"Lovely home you have here Miss Greengrass." Scarlet figured praise was a good start.

"Scarlet, we know one another, Cyrus and Isabella is fine." The man said before taking a sip of his drink.

"Now who do we have here?" A voice drawled behind him.

Scarlet turned around and saw a tall man with long blonde hair; he was dressed in very fine robes, and a small cane with a head of a serpent on it. He walked with authority, and Scarlet could tell this was not someone you wanted to be on their bad side.

"Lucius this is Scarlet Shade, Scarlet this is Lucius Malfoy, I believe you've met his son at school." Cyrus introduced to one another.

Scarlet offered his hand to shake, which the man did before pulling him closer. He used his cane to move Scarlet's hair out of the way to get a better look at his scar.

"A nasty scar on such a handsome face, how did you come across it?" Lucius asked.

"I've had this scar since I could remember. The same person who gave me this is the same one who killed my parents." Scarlet muttered loud enough for him to hear. He still wasn't 100 percent sure, but he knew the scar wasn't an accident, it was the intruder that killed his parents.

"Its always a shame when pure magical blood is spilled, but alas their legacy lives on with you, as long as you make the right choices." Lucius said stepping back.

Scarlet noticed that their conversation was gathering people's attention; he had to set a good impression.

"What choices are you referring too?" Scarlet asked.

"Your choice in company of course. Seems your guardians have instilled some good values in you as you've already garnered the attention of Cyrus Greengrass, and his heiress." Malfoy stated, Scarlet could tell Lucius liked to hear the sound of his own voice. He was fine with that; often people that chose to underestimate are the ones that would be caught off guard. "Speaking of guardians, I don't see them, we all are quite curious about who's been looking after the heir of the Shade fortune."

Scarlet turned around to face Cyrus. "My guardians wish to convey their apology's, they mean no disrespect, but for the better part of a decade they have chosen to keep their identities a secret and will continue to do so, they hope you and everyone here understands and respects their wishes." Scarlet would never admit how much time he had rehearsed his speech in front of his mirror. "Any and all dealings you and anyone else wish to partake I'll deliver any letters to them."

Scarlet looked around the room to gauge everyone's reaction, most kept a neutral face, others were slightly disappointed. Lucius's face was difficult to read; clearly, it wasn't the response he was expecting, but he must've been trying to find the right words to say, Cyrus spoke up before him.

"I'll admit that's a bit disappointing, but I would do so too if my family's life was in danger. Scarlet why don't I show you to where my daughter and other children are, I think you've spent enough time with us boring adults." Cyrus joked, that caused the tension in the room to break as everyone laughed.

"I hope this won't affect the relationship between Shades and Malfoys, I was well acquainted with your parents, and my son has spoken well of you, a prodigy in the making." Lucuis said, clearly he was trying to see if he could gain an ally in him.

"I assure you it won't, I'll be honest I haven't had the chance to properly speak to your son, but if he's here then I'll do so. Hopefully, this won't be the last time we meet." Scarlet said raising his hand.

"I look forward to it, I hold a high position in our government when you reach majority and claim your seat on the Wizengamot Ill be more than happy to help you. One must not be too careful, there are some people willing to manipulate someone for their own agenda." Lucius then abruptly left to mingle with the other guests.

Scarlet wasn't sure how he felt about the man if Draco was anything to go by, then he was someone he didn't want to be around longer than necessary, but he held a large influence in the magical world and it would be a mistake to make an enemy out of him. He felt a tap on his shoulder and saw Cyrus indicating to follow him.

The walk was quiet, Scarlet wasn't sure what to say to Cyrus Greengrass, he didn't think the man enjoyed to waste his time with small talk, so he figured silence was better. They didn't walk long as Cyrus stopped before a closed door. Scarlet nodded his thanks and was about to walk on when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Scarlet, I want to ask you one question and I hope you will give me an honest answer." Cyrus asked of him.

Scarlet look around him, he didn't want to have this conversation where someone could overhear them, a hallway wasn't very discrete. Sensing his discomfort Cyrus waved his wand around them.

"I set a privacy charm around us, no one will be able to overhear anything we say." Cyrus said putting away his wand.

"Alright what is it that you would like to ask?" Scarlet felt better talking to Cyrus now.

"You don't have any guardians do you?" Cyrus asked bluntly.

Scarlet narrowed his eyes at his question, there was no way he could've figured out his lie, and he'd practice it in front of the mirror!

"Scarlet I would hope that you respect me enough to not lie to me, I'm not your enemy." Cyrus's tone softened. Scarlet didn't think there was something he could do to get out of this situation.

"I've been looking after myself for the past 5 years." Besides Tonks, Scarlet hadn't told anyone this; he hoped that he could trust Cyrus. He looked over at the man and could see the man was just looking at him. "Was it that obvious?" He couldn't help but ask.

Cyrus chuckled at his question. "No it isn't, I think you had everyone fooled, though Lucius is suspicious." Scarlet didn't need that man uncovering his secret, it would ruin his life. "Scarlet you may be able to convince everyone with your words, but it's your eyes that are a giveaway." Scarlet was confused by what he meant. " I saw the hurt in your eyes as you watched families reuniting around you, I saw the same look in my fathers eyes when his wife passed away."

Scarlet couldn't help but look down, he was ashamed of himself that he gave in to his emotions, and he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up.

"I don't know how, but despite your upbringing you have turned into a fine young man, this life isn't easy, and the fact you've turned out well is a testament to your character. If there's anything you need all you need to do is ask." Cyrus kindly told him.

"No offence sir, but why are you doing this? We only met once before tonight, why offer such generosity?" Scarlet wasn't sure why Cyrus was taking such an interest in his life. He saw Cyrus smile at his question.

"Two reasons, one, I owe it your parents. Stephen and Susan Shade helped me back during the war, and that was a debt I could never repay. Secondly, is what you did for Daphne." Scarlet wasn't sure what he meant by that last point, but the fact he mentioned his parents grabbed his attention. "Before she left she had it in her mind that she needed to keep everyone at a distance, I tried to warn her to be careful in Slytherin house, boys as they get older tend to think they can take whatever they want, girls especially. When I gave her advice on keeping people at a distance, she took it to an extreme. Somehow you managed to get through to her, and these past few weeks I 've never seen her so happy. Thank you Scarlet." Cyrus finished.

"To be honest Tracey had a lot to do with it." Scarlet rebutted.

"So I've heard, but I think you showed her not all purebloods are out to get here, so if there's anything you need just let me know, Ill be glad to help any way possible."

"Thanks, Cyrus." Scarlet said.

"Your welcome, perhaps another time I'll be able to tell you more about your parents, but not right now. My daughter is expecting you, best not to keep a lady waiting." Cyrus winked at Scarlet before walking down the hallway.

Scarlet took a deep breath, he felt he could trust Lord Greengrass with his secret, he appreciated the fact the man was openly honest with him. Being a child most adults felt the need to hide secrets from them, whether it was they think kids couldn't process it properly or were too immature for it, Cyrus talked to him as an equal.

Scarlet walked over to the door and slowly opened it; he could see it is fair size room filled with children close to his age. He noticed most of them were in his year and all Slytherin, that didn't surprise him. There were a few younger ones also, either from other families, or younger siblings, he pushed the door completely open and walked in.

Daphne was the first to notice him and smiled. " Glad you could make it, good to see you know how to dress properly."

Scarlet rolled his eyes at her comment and shook her hand. "Well, I heard this was a can't miss event this summer, a chance to see all my favorite snakes in one room."

"There are still days where I can't believe you're stuck in Gryffindor." She commented.

"My thoughts exactly." A voice said joining in.

Scarlet looked over and saw Malfoy junior approach, he hadn't talked much with him during school. Perhaps a small sentence here and there, with other students in his house he noticed some hostility from Draco, but he himself was never on the receiving end.

"Scarlet this is Draco Malfoy, Draco, this is Scarlet Shade." Daphne introduced.

"Pleasure to finally talk to you." Scarlet shook hands with the boy.

"Its about time, being in Gryffindor didn't help." Malfoy said, Scarlet couldn't help but noticed this was a similar position he was just in with Malfoy senior.

"I've come to terms with Gryffindor, I may not agree with most of my housemates, but I've made good of my situation." Scarlet said neutrally.

"Must be quite difficult sharing a house with Potter, all that fame can barley fit his head." Draco chuckled, resulting in his muscles behind him laughing at his joke.

"I'll admit Potter has been below standards I would've thought of him, but I've learned never to underestimate someone too quickly." Scarlet advised, he was trying to stay as neutral as possible with his comments, he was going to make an honest effort this year to know him, but he also needed to make allies in Slytherin.

"You got that one right, wasn't for Granger, he and Weasley would've failed Snape's class." Nott chimed in, garnering a couple laughs. Scarlet laughed too since he knew that was right.

"Regardless I didn't come here to talk about my house, I have a few weeks of peace I'd like to enjoy before then." Scarlet then walked towards Daphne. "Here, I'm not used to giving gifts hope you life it." He handed her the gift.

"Thanks you Scarlet." Daphne started to unwrap her present. Scarlet could see her face light up. "Its beautiful thanks you!" Daphne held up the mirror delicately and flipped it over and felt the snake on the back. "For someone who doesn't give gifts often, you sure picked a great one." Daphne smiled at him.

"Your welcome." Scarlet looked around and notice most of the kids were mingling with others, giving the two some privacy. "I'm a bit surprised by the crowd tonight, didn't think the Ice Queen had so many friends." Scarlet mused.

He could see Daphne raise her brow at him in amusement. "Most of them aren't my friends, they're more….associates." When Daphne saw Scarlet not say anything she took at as her cue to continue. "Most children in this room, you and I included are the heirs to our houses. When that day comes we are going to need to work with other families in our to continue growing our house, whether by business deals, or some severe cases, marriage contracts." Daphne explained leading them to a private corner of the room.

"So its easier to form relationships now, instead of down the road when it might be too late." Scarlet stated. He could see Daphne smile at his answer.

"I knew you were more than a pretty face." Daphne teased.

Scarlet snorted at her comment. "Just takes a lot of common sense."

"I can imagine that's the reason why you're here right now." Daphne asked.

"I've been cut off from the wizarding world for a long time, if I have any chance of thriving then I'm going to need to make connections to other families. In fact Lucius Malfoy suggested I seek out his aid when I reach majority." Scarlet said.

"I'd be careful around him, he doesn't do things out of the goodness of his heart, if he's taken an interest in you, its because he has a way he can use you." Daphne warned. "The only reasons Malfoy senior and junior are here was that if they didn't receive an invite they'd take it as a form of insult, and would cease dealings with house Greengrass. The Malfoys may be a dark family, but they hold a lot influence over the current Minister of Magic."

"I doubt anyone would trust a former Death Eater."

"They would if that death eater was bribing them with gold." Daphne said bluntly.

That set off warning bells in Scarlet, he had heard certain things about Lucius but this was serious. He'd have to be very careful around him, already the mans attention was on him, he'd have to watch his steps very carefully. If what Daphne said was true, then it would only be a matter of time before Malfoy bribed his current situation out of the Minister, and if that happened Lucius might make a power play to take him in as his ward.

"I don't suppose you can do me a favor?" Scarlet asked.

"Its technically my birthday so you shouldn't be asking things of me, but since were _friends_ I guess I can make an exception." Daphne mused.

"Can you ask your father to keep an ear out if my name if mentioned? I think Lucius believes there's more to me than I'm telling him. I'd like to know if I should be on guard."

"I'll let him know, by the way you really set a good impression on him the other day." Daphne said.

"Yeah, we had a good chat before we arrived here too, definitely someone I can trust." Scarlet said.

"Scarlet! Care to join us in a game of exploding snap Shade? We need another player since the girls don't want to join us." One of the boys said across the room.

"That's because we don't waste our time playing juvenile games." Parkinson said back.

Scarlet nodded his head and joined the boys for a couple matches.

That's what happened for the rest of the evening, Scarlet quickly realized that everyone here may be in Slytherin house, but at the end of the day, they're still kids. The boys enjoyed playing's games and talking about Quidditch just as much as anyone else. The girls were a bit more sophisticated, Scarlet probably figured they picked it up from their mothers, but a lot of them were very pleasant to talk too, and just wanted to have fun. Though there was a sliver of arrogance or snobbishness from some of them, Scarlet knew that they picked it up from their parents. That's when he started to wonder if he was raised in a similar environment as them would he have turned out like them? Or would he still be the same person he is now? Scarlet shrugged at the thought and just went on to continue having fun, no point worrying about what-ifs.

XXX

Behind closed doors, in a separate room from the main event, a small group of men had been called together by Lucius Malfoy. The group had one thing in common, which was they escaped a sentence to Azkaban using the Imperius defense. Even remembering their time made some unconscious rub the mark on their left arm.

"Make this quick Lucius, if anyone notices all of us meeting together it'll raise suspicion." Nott growled, unease by their current situation.

"Don't tell me what to do Nott!" Lucius sneered.

"Why are we meeting like this, here of all places? Why couldn't this meeting happen in your manor?" Goyle senior asked.

Lucius let out an irritated sigh and started to pace in front of the men.

"You know why we can't you idiot! The ministry has been conducting raids this summer! If we were to meet together and be found out, it would raise suspicion!" Lucius growled, making the man step back. Once he saw he had everyone's attention he continued. "The reason I called you gentlemen here is that, Hogwarts is going to experience some rather…..disturbing events this upcoming year."

"What kind of _events_?" Nott asked.

Lucius smirked at the question; he reached into his coat and pulled out a small black book. The book didn't look anything special, it had a black leather cover but that was the only nice thing about it. From the looks of it was rather old, and from a quick glance, the pages were empty.

"Oooooh an empty book how terrifying. Life in your big empty manor affecting your mind?" Nott mocked.

Lucius quickly points his wand at Nott. "Crucio!" Resulting in Nott withering in pain from the unforgivable curse. Lucius held Nott in pain for several moments before letting the spell go. If serving under the dark lord had taught him anything, was that displaying great power over the weak to get what you want.

"Now as I was saying this will be the key to our victory." Lucius said.

"How is that going to help us?" One of the men asked.

"When our Lord was at the height of his power he rewarded me with this, told me it was filled with dark magic. Knowing our Lord, if this was to be unleashed within the school, countless of students would die. Mudbloods to be exact." Lucius had a predatory smile on his face. Since Voldemorts demise at the hand of an insignificant child, he'd been waiting for the right opportunity. Now that Potter was in school, he could unleash whatever hell was in this book and hopefully kill the muggleborns and Potter.

"So how are we going to get that inside the school? If one of our kids is found with it it'll lead back to us!" Nott asked, still a bit sore from the earlier curse.

Lucius smirked at the men. "I'm not stupid enough to give this to Draco, no. In fact, I've chosen the perfect candidate." He started pacing in front of the men. "As I told you already the Ministry has been conducting extra raids this summer, by one annoying Weasley senior."

Crabbe scoffed at the redhead's name. "A filthy blood traitor!"

"My thoughts exactly, how poetic would it be if one of his children, the youngest to be exact, were to be the cause of dark magic being unleashed." Lucius mused. The others in the room all chuckled at the blonde's insinuation. _'Everyone will rue the day they defied us!'_

 **Authors Note:** A bit of a set up for the second year, wanted to introduce Lucius a bit early, get a better idea of why he is doing this. Wanted to show a different side of everyone in house Slytherin, yes they're in that house for a reason, but they're still just kids.

I currently have one more chapter detailing the end of the summer, and then it's the start of the second year. Also, something you noticed at the end of this chapter is that there was a scene not involving Scarlet. I'm going to start implementing scenes where Scarlet isn't in the conversation, he's still the protagonist of the story but its so you can get a better idea of the supporting characters. Hoped you all enjoy this one and I'll see you soon.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything in the Harry Potter universe**

Fresh Start Ch 12

 _Scarlet looked around at his surroundings, this was the address he requested the Knight Bus drop him off when he looked out the window he was tempted to not get off, but he had promised to do this so there was no going back._

 _The neighbourhood was very boring, every house within site was the exact same two-story building, the paint was the same, the lawns were the same, and even most of the cars were of the same type. Scarlet wasn't sure how anyone could live here, it would drive him loony._

 _He looked at the piece of paper with the address written on it. "4 Privet Drive." He said to himself. He walked over towards the door, he wasn't even sure if anyone was home. It was midday so most adults were most likely at work, and he doubted Harry was the studious type to stay indoors reading than outside playing._

 _Hermoine had written to him yesterday asking him if he could check up on Harry, apparently, he was not responding to anyone's letters, he didn't care much for the boy but Hermoine had seem devastated in her letters, and he owed it to her to figure out why the git wasn't responding._

 _He reached the door, and pressed the doorbell on the side, he waited for a few moments before the door opened. A thin woman with an absurdly large neck answered the door; she looked down at him in confusion. "Hello, are you one of Dudley's friends, I don't remember seeing you before. He's out at the moment with his father." She asked._

" _No, I'm not friends with Dudley, is this the residence of Harry Potter?" Scarlet asked._

 _He saw the women narrow her eyes, and looked at him top to bottom. Scarlet wasn't sure what she was looking for. "You look to normal to be a freak." She finally said._

" _Pardon?" Scarlet wasn't sure where the hostility was coming from._

" _No, he's not here." She stated before slamming the door on him. Scarlet wasn't sure what to do, he didn't think he said anything rude, or done anything to warrant that response. Part of him wanted to shrug and go back home, tell Hermoine he did his best, but another part of him was curious to what was going on._

 _Scarlet eventually walked down a few houses, out of sight from the window. He quickly morphed his hair blonde, made his hair curly, and made himself a little taller, and changed his eye color from blue to hazel. He removed his sweater and tied it around his waist; he looked over a nearby puddle satisfied he couldn't be recognized_

 _He waited ten minutes before walking back to the familiar door and ringing the doorbell again. The same women from before answered._

" _Hi, I'm a friend of Dudley's is he home right now to play?" Scarlet hated how childish he sounded right now._

" _I'm sorry Dudley isn't home right, he should be back in a half an hour." She told him kindly._

" _Would it be okay if I waited for him here? My mum just dropped me off and I don't know the neighbourhood." Scarlet asked putting on his best innocent possible._

" _Of course dear come in." She motioned Scarlet in and led him to the living room._

 _He looked around, it was a normal family home nice furniture and pictures all along the walls. What he noticed quickly was no pictures of Harry anywhere, something wasn't right._

" _Now I'm a bit busy making dinner, but just entertain yourself with the television and they'll be home very soon." The women walked out of the room and he could hear her moving pots._

 _He turned on the television on a random channel and waited a few minutes. Once he was sure the woman wasn't going to come back he stood up and walked into the hallway. He looked up the stairs and noticed several bedrooms upstairs; he figured that would be a good place to start._

 _Once he got up he checked the first two bedrooms and found them empty, the next was a bathroom, that only left one door, it was the only one closed. He carefully knocked._

" _Coming Aunt Petunia!" A voice he recognized as Potter, he quickly morphed back to his base form before he opened the door. Potter was clearly surprised by his appearance, so he quickly shushed him pushed him inside and changed._

" _What are you doing here?" Potter asked._

" _Here to find out why you're too busy to write to any of us." Scarlet stated, he looked around the room, just like Potter's skills in magic it was depressing. Scarlet was genuinely confused, he was told the Potter family had some wealth, so why did it look like everything he owned has second used._

" _I haven't received any letters, from none of my friends." Potter sat on his bed facing him._

" _Don't be ridiculous, I know for a fact Hermoine has sent you several, and I've written personally to you one or twice. I can't believe I'm saying this but if I can find your house, than my owl can, takes an absurd amount of pride in its work." Scarlet muttered the last part to himself._

" _I honestly haven't received any, I've been bored this summer wondering what they've been up to." Potter sulked._

" _Well then why didn't you write then?" Scarlet asked simply and sat down on the chair._

" _My aunt and uncle don't want to let Hedwig out." Potter said, he seemed careful on the right words to say. "They're not particularly fond of magic." He finished._

" _That's rather disturbing." Scarlet's idea of Potter was slowly unhinging, this house his room, his guardians is not what he expected it to be. Add to the fact he wasn't sure why Potter wasn't able to receive any letters._ _ **'To many questions not enough answers'**_ _He thought to himself. He looked out the window and silently cursed, it was getting late he needed to leave very soon. He pulled out the letter Hermoine wanted him to deliver. "Here this is from Hermoine, and this is from me, happy birthday." Scarlet pulled out a small bag of candy, Hermoine had mentioned it was the boys birthday soon, he figured he should at least get him something small._

" _Thanks, Scarlet, I'm glad we decided to be friends, I'm really glad to see you." Potter thanked._

" _Um, likewise? See you at the station." Scarlet hastily said goodbye before leaving the room. He quickly morphed back and exited the home before anyone else saw him._

XXX

"And that's the end of it." Scarlet was currently at the Granger residence, she wrote that her parents were out and that she wanted some company today. He had just finished his story of the events the other day to her. She seemed quiet, clearly going over every detail he had told her.

"I don't know much about magic as you, but is there a way an owl can't deliver someone's mail?" Hermoine asked.

"I'm not sure, there probably is. I'm sure certain people on the run don't want owls somehow finding them, there has to be some sort of spell." Scarlet theorized. He had read over some of his books trying figure out a solution to their problem but hadn't found any.

"Maybe Tonks knows how?" she suggested. Scarlet was tempted to ask Tonks, but he didn't want to bother her, she was probably too busy anyway.

"She's to busy preparing for the Academy I'd hate to bother her." Scarlet said putting away his books. "Are we still on for picking up our books together?"

"Yes, my parents are trying to find a day that's good for them, probably around the last week of summer, is that alright?" She asked.

"That's fine, would like to read ahead but I have plenty of books at home that I still need to go through." Scarlet started to put away his homework.

"Till then, I'll just have to settle writing to just you and Ronald." She started to clean up the table they were working on.

"I can just imagine the intelligent conversation that must be." He said sarcastically.

She playfully smacked him on the arm for the comment. "Ronald might not be as focused when it comes his study's as us, it doesn't mean we have nothing to talk about."

"Really? I have a hard time imagining he has anything interesting to write, other than Quidditch." He shook his head at her.

"Honestly Scarlet, you promised to give him a chance." She scolded.

"Fine, what has he written to you." Scarlet sighed in defeat. This friendship thing was getting harder and harder.

"Did you know that Ron's oldest brother is a curse-breaker and that he's currently stationed in Egypt, going through pyramids, and underground temples? Also that his second oldest is a dragon tamer in Romania!" Hermoine started to get excited about the subject.

Scarlet couldn't help but smile at her excitement, whenever she learned something interesting, she would always put her full attention to it. He wondered if he would ever get this excited over something.

"Alright, alright, I yield. A lot of that stuff does sound interesting. Although I think he does embellish some of it to make it far more interesting." He pointed out.

"Yes, but I imagine Ronald gets very excited when talking about his older brothers, he does look up to them." She giggled.

"Anyway this has been fun, but I figured your parents will be home soon." Scarlet started to put everything in his bag, but he heard Hermoine clear her throat.

"Actually my mum and dad want to meet you, I told them you'd be coming here for dinner." She said shyly.

"So you invite me here under the pretence of socializing and work, then since I'm already her take this as an opportunity to keep me here further for dinner, to meet your parents…how Slytherin of you." Scarlet couldn't help but nod at his bushy friends approached.

Hermoine had the decency to blush in embarrassment. "I wasn't sure if you would agree ahead of time. They've honestly wanted to meet you since I wrote about you back in Halloween. Please!"

"Fine, but only because I'm so proud that my cunning is starting to rub off on you." Scarlet smirked at her.

"You prat!" she smacked him again.

XXX

He could feel a slight shift on top of him, he grunted in annoyance and tried to fall back asleep. He could feel the same shift again only a bit more forceful, again he ignored it. When it continued he rolled over onto his stomach hoping it was now over.

If an owl had the ability to have facial expression, then one could see clear annoyance on Ghosts face. The owl had just arrived home after bringing a letter with it; it was instructed that it was important and that Scarlet needed to open it right away. However, his owner wasn't cooperating and was still in bed. Ghost had originally thought to land on him would wake up his owner, but that effort was for nought. Ghost repeated the process several times before giving up. This was his job, to deliver letters back and forth, and currently Scarlet was denying him of that!

Ghost looked around the room contemplating its choices before it moved over onto Scarlet's shoulder, a plan already decided. It gave its owner one last chance, but Scarlet continued to sleep. Ghost reared his back before pecking his owner s face repeatedly.

"AGH!" Scarlet jumped in reaction to the vicious pecks. Unfortunately, he was lying at the edge of the bed and landed heavily on the carpet floor, his face once again becoming reacquainted with the floor. "Ghost! Why did you do that!" Scarlet groggily asked his bloody bird.

Ghost merely tilted his head at him, as if he was giving Scarlet an innocent look. Scarlet narrowed his eyes at the bird. The past few months he realized something about Ghost, he took his job very seriously. At first, he thought he picked out a good bird as Ghost was usually quick with delivering his letters. But when Ghost started to deliver letters back to him he realized the issue. The bloody bird wouldn't stop pestering him until he opened the letters, not when he untied it from his leg, but actually ripping the envelope open and reading them. The problem was when Ghost would arrive back sometimes he wouldn't be in a position to open them right away. For instance, when he was cooking dinner last week and Ghost started knocking over his pans to get his attention, or when Scarlet was in the shower and Ghost out of nowhere dropped in scaring the magic out of him, or right now when he was sleeping.

Scarlet slowly stood up and untied the letter from the bird, it hooted at a job well done and flew into a different room. He sighed at his bird's antics and checked to see who had written to him. The colourful ink clued him to the fact his favourite Metamorphmagus had written to him.

In truth, Scarlet didn't see Tonks as often as he would've liked this summer. Since seeing her, Jess, and Rebecca with their families at King Cross Station he had the feeling to keep his distance. He didn't want to take up much of the girl's time, she had just graduated from Hogwarts and he wanted her to be celebrating with her family. Along with preparing to join the Auror Academy, Scarlet didn't want to get in her way.

They had still managed to write back and forth from time to time, and she invited him to dinner with her parents, which he enjoyed greatly. Scarlet had noticed Tonks giving him odd looks when she thought he wasn't looking, and at times seemed to want to say something to him.

He sighed in annoyance at the letter, he had an idea of what she had written to him.

 _Wotcher Scarlet!_

 _Hope you're enjoying your summer! You promised that you would let me take you to Diagon Alley to help you pick out your textbooks for this year! Don't write you have plans to study with Hermoine because we both know you finished your assignments in the first week. Plus I wrote to the sweet girl and she's currently spending the day with her parents at Diagon Alley, so HA! Stuck with little ol' me!_

 _I told Ghost it's very important that you get this letter immediately as I'm going to pick you up early today. So hopefully by the time I arrive your icy self will be ready. I'll be there at 9 see you soon!_

 _Love Tonks_

Scarlet looked over at the clock, he still had an hour to get ready. Now fully awake thanks to Ghost, he got ready for the long day ahead of him.

He had just finished getting ready and was finishing breakfast when he heard his front door thrown open. _'Knew giving her the key was a mistake.'_ Scarlet chuckled to himself. He could hear her walking through the house, trying to find him. There were two entrances to the kitchen, the living room, and the hallway, Scarlet was hoping for the former.

His hopes were realized as he heard the all to familiar sound of his footstool knocked over, quickly followed by a loud thump. Scarlet tried hard to not laugh out loud at her, every time she came over, she managed to trip over the exact same footstool, even though he always moved it.

"Wotcher Scarlet!" Tonks announced walking into the kitchen

"Wotcher Tonks. You know most people knock Tonks." Scarlet said while cleaning the dishes.

"Most people aren't as awesome as me." She said nonchalantly, sitting down at the table.

"Can't argue with that logic." He muttered in good taste.

"Oi! Don't make me smack you silly, I can use magic now!" Tonks jokingly threatened.

This time Scarlet couldn't hold in his laughter, he'd missed this. "I'm almost done with the dishes then we can leave for Diagon Alley." Scarlet said finishing up.

"Actually was hoping we could talk before leaving." Tonks said, her tone shifting to serious.

Scarlet inwardly sighed at that, he knew what she wanted to talk about. He may act older than his age, but there was always a primal fear in kids, when an adult catches you doing something wrong. He sat down facing her from across the table.

The two stared at one another for a few minutes. It might've been immature of him, but he wanted to delay this conversation as long as possible, he wasn't going to make the first move.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" Tonks finally asked, fed up with the silence.

"I haven't been avoiding you, I've written and visited you a few times." Scarlet stated.

"Yes, but often you'll say you're busy with homework, errands, or seeing Hermoine." She replied.

"Just trying to keep busy during the summer."

"Yes part of that is true, but there's more. My mother saw you that day at the station." Tonks said. Scarlet narrowed his eyes in thought, he didn't think anyone noticed him; they were all too busy celebrating. "She saw you walk over to us, then turn around. Why?" She finished.

Tonks noticed Scarlet mutter something but was too quiet to hear anything. "Say that again."

"I didn't want to be a distraction!" Scarlet said a bit louder.

That surprised Tonks, that wasn't the answer she was expecting. "Why would you be a distraction?" She asked.

"I knew you all were going out to London to celebrate if I had walked over you would've invited me along." Scarlet said.

"Yes, we would because we care about you, what's wrong with that?" Tonks was confused at where this was going.

"After what happened last time I didn't want to go back to London, at least not for awhile." Scarlet muttered.

"That's not an issue, we could've moved it over to someone else's house." Tonks said kindly.

"It is an issue!" Scarlet shouted, abruptly standing up. "That day was your day, to enjoy seven years of hard work finally completed. It's not right for me to inconvenience you because of my problems, I would've felt guilty." Scarlet finished sitting down.

Tonks started to get a better idea of what the issue was. Scarlet wasn't used to the idea of people caring about him, he was afraid if he pushed himself onto them too much he might lose them. Of course, that was a ridiculous notion to her, nothing he could do would drive her away. However, Scarlet was still very young and had been alone for half his life, he didn't have a firm grasp on relationships and that left him with a lot of insecurities, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

She stood up and walked around the table over to him, and pulled him up into a hug. "You silly boy, if I've taught you anything is that you're not getting rid of me anytime soon. You're stuck with me for life, for better or worse." She said.

"You're going to be busy with Auror training soon." Scarlet's voice was a bit muffled, but she understood what he said.

"I will be busy, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be out of your life forever, we can still exchange letters and see each other during the summer." She pulled away and looked him in the eye. "I promise if you ever need me, I'll drop everything and come to Hogwarts in a blink of an eye."

"Promise?" Scarlet asked. She nodded at him and pulled him back into another hug.

"Now enough mushy stuff, we need to pick up your books, it's going to be packed with kids. So hold my hand and be a good boy." She teased.

"I am so not holding your hand, I don't want people knowing I purposely associate myself with you." Scarlet started to walk to the front with Tonks close behind.

"I'll have you know there are perks to being my friend." She held up her face in a dignified manner.

"What perks? And you can't say Metamorphmagus training, that only applies to me."

"Well if you happen to mention my name at Witch's Wear Unmentionables you get 15% off on everything pink at the store." She added with a smirk to her face.

Scarlet couldn't help but shudder at the mention of the store, he'd passed by it a few times, he didn't go in but he could get an idea of what the store sold through the windows.

Once he finished locking up the door she grabbed his arm and they apparated to Diagon Alley.

True to her word the Alley was packed full of people, he ended up having to hold on to Tonks to not get separated. Once they walked a bit the crowd started to thin somewhat.

"You ready for the Academy?" Scarlet asked trying to pass the time.

"Honestly not sure, I have no idea what to expect." She replied, Scarlet noticed there was a sense of nervousness in her, she was always so confident so to see this side of her was new to him.

"I'm sure you'll do fine if I learned anything from you is that you can do anything, and if not you can most certainly charm your way into anything." Scarlet responded.

"Very sweet of you Scarlet, I'll tell you how the first week goes in my letters." She said. "Who knows maybe it'll inspire you to become an Auror. I could always use a side-kick." She joked.

"If I become an Auror then I'll end up being your boss. So you better be nice to me now." He smirked back.

"At the rate, your magic is growing, you would make a very powerful Auror."

"You serious?"

She looked down at him and looked him in the eye. "I'm serious, Scarlet I've never seen someone of your age pull off incredible feats of magic, you perform a Glacious Duo at eleven! I couldn't do that spell until I was fifteen. You could do a lot of good if you choose to be an Auror." She complimented.

Scarlet had thought about a career as an Auror since Tracey mentioned it to him, but right now he was still years away from it, he may change his mind several times before then. "I'll keep it in the back of my mind, but right now I just want to survive school."

"Don't think of as surviving, I had a fun-filled experience at school." Tonks said simply, she had a smile on her face, as she seemed to relieve a couple memories.

"What kind of fun?" He asked eagerly. Scarlet noticed her cheeks start to redden.

"Um, erm, you're not old enough yet for those stories." Tonks started to quicken her pace.

Scarlet was left confused but shrugged at Tonks antics.

The plan was to meet up with Hermoine and her parents at the bookstore in an hour, so they stopped at the other shops to restock his school's supplies first. Luckily most of the shops weren't as busy, he found out why as they finally arrived at Flourish and bolts, and saw the large crowded gathered inside.

"I know it's a week before school but this is ridiculous, looks like every witch between the ages of eleven to sixty is there…Did I miss a memo?" Tonks pondered.

Scarlet saw a poster on the window, it was a notice of Gilderoy Lockhart appearing at the bookstore this very day. Scarlet was very much looking forward to meeting the man.

When he first heard of the man and his book series, he was sceptical. Putting in a little research he found the events depicted in the books were real, the fact no one was suing Lockhart for stealing someone's work proved that he was the real deal, and the books were factual. Scarlet would never admit it openly but he looked up a little to the man, he was very excited to learn that he would be their new DADA professor, Scarlet could learn so much from him.

"Gilderoy Lockhart is signing autographs today." Scarlet told Tonks.

"LOCKHART!?" Tonks ran over to the window to check on her appearance, she morphed her hair to look nicer, and most disturbing she expanded her chest. Scarlet shook his head at her; if he dated someone they would never have to change for him.

Scarlet was able to find the books he was looking for as the clerk packaged books together depending on the year. They soon moved over to the line to meet Lockhart. Unfortunately, Tonks stumbled over a dropped book and bumped into a woman ahead of her.

"So sorry, tripped over a book." Tonks apologized.

The woman turned around, and Scarlet recognized the woman as Narcissa Malfoy, he didn't get a chance to talk to her at the party. The gaze she gave Tonks was familiar to one she gave to most of the people there.

"So you're Andromeda's daughter, bad hair, poor clothes, I still wonder why your mother gave up so much for _you_ and your _mudblood father."_ Narcissa said with distaste.

Tonks narrowed her eyes at the statement. "I still wonder why it took her so long to leave you lot." She bit back.

Scarlet had never seen Tonks this angry before, if she was like this in combat then he worried about any dark wizards who crossed her path. Scarlet looked over and saw the Weasleys, Granger and Potter walk over to them.

"Your whore of a mother is a stain on a proud and noble family!" He heard Narcissa shout. She didn't get a chance to continue her rant as Tonks tackled her. Soon a brawl broke out between the two of them, he took a step back toward his friends.

"Narcissa, you're better than this!" Lucius Malfoy stepped into the scene with Draco close behind. He didn't know who looked angrier, him or his wife.

The fighting didn't stop as both women lost balance and crashed landed on him and his groups of friends, knocking everyone over. Scarlet was dazed for a moment before someone picked him up, he looked up and saw who he presume was Ron's father, he nodded to the man in thanks.

He looked over at the mess and saw Lucius pull his wife off Tonks and out the door, he saw Draco glare at some of them before following his parents.

He walked over to Tonks to help her up. "You okay Tonks?"

"Yeah just a few scratches, those bigots have the sharpest nails I've ever seen." Tonks wiped the blood off her chin with her sleeve.

"Tonks are you okay?" Hermoine walked over to them.

"Don't worry Hermoine, I've had worse." Tonks checked herself over to make sure her appearance was in order. "Now that that's over I have a good looking man to meet." She marched over across the store passing by onlookers to stunned to move.

"Boy Charlie wasn't lying when he talked about Tonks."

"She does have a fiery temper brother.

"Much like our Gin-Gin." George joke, receiving a glare from said sister.

"Good to see my favourite group of redheads, been awhile." Scarlet surprisingly did miss the twins, he could always count on them to bring him amusement, always at the expense of others…..He liked that part especially.

"Scarlet old chap good to see you!"

"Doesn't feel right pulling a prank without our partner in crime!"

"We missed you!" They dramatically cried. The twins surrounded him and crushed him in a hug on both sides.

"I didn't miss you that much." Scarlet's muffled voice said. He was uncomfortable at the scene being caused, and the people staring. He quickly broke up the hug.

"Ahem." A throat cleared behind. Scarlet looked behind him and saw the same redhead that helped him, holding a stack of books. "I believe you dropped all these." Scarlet quickly grabbed the books off the man.

"Thank you, I'm Scarlet Shade." He introduced.

"Arthur Weasley, my sons have said good things about you, nice to finally meet you." The man introduced. "This is my daughter Ginny, she'll be going to Hogwarts this year."

Scarlet looked down and saw a small red hair girl, with freckles; she was a Weasley all right. "Nice to meet you, Ginny, do you need help carrying your books?" The girl just shook her head, in fact, she wasn't even looking at him. He turned his head and saw what held her attention, Potter.

"Scarlet time to go!" Tonks was soon beside him dragging him out of the store. He said goodbye to everyone before walking out of the store with Tonks, and soon apparating home.

"Are you okay? We rushed out of there pretty quickly." Scarlet was concerned; this wasn't normal behaviour for Tonks.

"Yes, I just wanted to get what I needed and get out." She walked over to the couch and sat down.

"Is this about Narcissa Malfoy? Why did she seem so antagonistic towards you?" Scarlet didn't think Tonks knew many pureblood families to warrant a reaction like that.

She noticed Tonks clench her fist at the mention of Malfoy. "She's my aunt."

"EXCUSE ME!?" Scarlet yelled, he just didn't see the similarities between them.

"I told you how my mother was raised in a pureblood home." Scarlet nodded remembering the conversation. "Her former name is Black. Andromeda Black, she was raised by them with her two sisters, one being Narcissa Black." Tonks stood up and started pacing around the room.

"My mother was dating my dad during her years in Hogwarts, and as you may or may not know, its generally frowned upon as pureblood to associate with muggleborns, especially dating one. So when my mother told her family she agreed to marry my dad, they disowned her, and removed her from the family." She finished and soon sat down beside him.

Scarlet was fairly annoyed by that, family is all anyone has in the world, and to throw that away by something small as blood was ridiculous to him. "Based on your interaction with her, there's still tension between both sides."

Tonks snorted at his words." That's one way to put it, my mums happy with her choice, anyone could clearly see it. But there are times when I see her looking at her old photos, she still misses them." Scarlet put his arm around Tonks, he was going to support her as she did to him.

"Andromeda is a loving woman, she cares about anyone, and its what makes her an amazing person." Scarlet held high respect for the women, she treated him as blood when she didn't even know him, he always is greatlfull for what she did to him.

"Th, nks Scarlet I needed that." She held onto him and they just sat there in silence.

"Times like these I'm glad I grew away from this pureblood drama, who knows maybe were related?" Tonks laughed at Scarlets joke, he was glad she was loosening up.

"I think mum would take you in then and there, she always wanted a bigger family."

"Yes, but you know I enjoy having my bachelor pad, no mothers to embarrass me, I love it." Scarlet teased back.

"Don't tell mum that, or else she might visit you everyday for the rest of the summer." Soon both started to laugh, and the stress of the day melted away. Though there was still one thing nagging Scarlet.

"Tonks, you mentioned Andromeda had two sisters, who was the other?" He noticed Tonks stiffen at his question; clearly, he shouldn't have done that.

"Bellatrix LeStrange." She said quietly.

Scarlet had to hold his tongue at this revelation. He had read much about the previous wizarding war, and Bellatrix LeStrange's name came up often. Voldemorts second in command, she was a terrifying death eater, it had to take Dumbledore himself to able to restrain her, she had so much raw power no ordinary wizard or witch could match her. Luckily she was locked away in Azkaban. Scarlet thanked Merlin he would never have to meet someone like that.

XXX

Lucius Malfoy didn't know how to feel right now, he had done his job of transferring the book to one of the nit wit students, but it came at the expense of his wife engaging in a ridiculous squabble. When they got home Narcissa immediately left for a different wing of the manor, she was not in a good mood. Draco seemed reluctant to talk, so he left for his room leaving him by himself.

He quickly made his way towards his private office; he needed to make a floo call. Once he made the connection Nott answered.

"Good day Lucius, I trust everything is going well?" The man asked.

"Yes, the plans in motion, within a few weeks muggleborns will start to die." Lucius smirked. Now that the book was in possession of a student, the muggleborns would all soon die, and that oaf Dumbledore will be sent to Azkaban because of it.

"I've told everyone in our circle to warn their children, it won't do us any good if one of them gets caught in the crossfire." Nott warned.

Lucius silently scoffed at that, if one pureblood had to die for their goal then it was worth it in his eyes.

The two men continued their conversation unaware that a certain house elf was hiding in the corner listening to their every word. "I must help Harry Potter." It muttered to himself, before disappearing.

 **Authors Note: A quick apology for this being late. As I mentioned a few weeks ago my college and numerous more were on strike, meaning I had a lot of free time. With the strike ending 2 weeks ago, I've been busy with the heavy workload and tests I had to study for. Unfortunately, this means I won't be able to upload once a week, I'll still be aiming for once every two weeks.**

 **Onto the story itself next chapter will officially begin the second year, and with that, I will be changing the title of this fic. Fresh Start was always a placeholder for me, and it represented my fresh start in the world of writing and also tied nicely to my main character. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and will see you soon.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: All the characters and the world of Harry's Potter is owned by JK Rowling.**

WIthin the Shadows Chapter 1

' _I'll pick you up she said.'_

' _I'll be on time she said!'_

' _We'll be early she said.'_

Scarlet was not in a good mood, he was late; he looked up at the clock in the station. _'10:55'_ Correct that, very late. Tonks had told him that she'd pick him up and take him to the station, but of all days Tonks ended up oversleeping. It must've been an odd sight for people, to see a young kid with a caged bird running like a maniac across a train station. _'10:57. If I ever see you again Tonks I'll show you just how appreciative I am right now.'_

He was a couple meters away from the entrance to platform nine and three quarters when he saw the all to familiar group of red heads. He felt better knowing he wasn't the only one running late, he quickly caught up to them.

"Hey Scarlet, you running late too?" Ron asked first noticing him arrive.

"Yeah, my ride chose to be 2 hours late in picking me up. What's your excuse?" He asked the boys.

"Took us awhile because everyone kept forgetting something at home and we had to go back." Ron explained.

Soon they were the last three. "After you Potter." Scarlet motioned for them to hurry up. Potter had a running start towards the entrance, followed by Weasley, then himself. Instead of going through the barrier like they did last year, Potter hit a solid wall instead, causing him to fly over his trolley and land harshly on his back. Weasley faired somewhat better having an extra second to stop but still landed on his trunk. Scarlet being in the back was able to stop in time, he was never more glad to follow common curtsey.

Scarlet helped both boys up; they looked a bit sore but would be fine soon. He started to walk over to the wall and try to see what went wrong. Instead of his hand going through, all he felt was the wall, that wasn't right. Soon an overhead clock chimed, indicating it was eleven.

"We missed the train." Potter stated.

"Way to state the obvious." Scarlet muttered under his breath, this day was getting worse and worse for him.

"Wait, if we can't get through, how are mum and dad supposed to get back." Ron started to panic.

Scarlet was very annoyed now, first he was picked up late, now the barrier was closed for an unknown reason, and now they missed the train!

"I'm sure there if we just wait someone will come and help us, we can't be the first students to miss the train." Scarlet needed to calm down, all this fussing and anger wasn't going to help.

"Maybe we should just wait by the car?" Potter suggested. Scarlet had to admit it was better than standing around the middle of a platform with everyone staring.

"The car? That's it, we can use the car to go to Hogwarts!" Ron exclaimed.

"Excuse me?" Scarlet thought that was a stupid idea. "Do you know how long it would take to drive there?"

"Not drive, it can fly, it would take the same amount of time as the train." Ron explained, he could see the red head start to get excited about his plan.

"I'm not getting into a car with you driving. You both can go, I'll wait here." Scarlet stated firmly, he was not going to get himself in even more trouble.

"Scarlet we can't stay here." Potter begged.

"Why not?"

"Because this all looks suspicious? Remember how I told you I didn't receive any letters. There was a elf that came to my house explaining it was responsible." Potter explained.

Scarlet was confused, he knew house elfs weren't rebellious creatures; they didn't do that sort of thing, unless someone ordered it to. "Okay but what does this have to do with your elf problem."

"It said that great danger will come if we go to Hogwarts, what if this is a trap, what if whoever is behind this wants us to stay here and pick us off." Potter seemed to get more nervous with each word, Weasley on the other hand looked ready to run out of the station.

"That's quite a reach, no one is foolish enough to cause a scene with this many muggles around." Scarlet refuted.

"Please, you have to trust us." Potter said.

There it was, trust, because they were trying to be friends. Scarlet knew it was a farfetched idea that this was some grand ploy to kill them, but considering last year he'd promised to make a better effort with them. With that he nodded begrudgingly and followed both boys out of the station.

The quickly found the car and started to put away their luggage in the trunk.

"I recommend you let your bird out, don't want them getting reckless in there." He advised Potter. Harry nodded in agreement and both let their birds out of their cage. Soon they strapped in and were ready to go.

When Scarlet first heard Weasleys plan to fly to Hogwarts he figured they'd drive out of the city then take off, what he did not count on was that this plan was one formed by Weasley. Immediately upon strapping in the car took off a couple of feet into the air, and then were quickly flying over the city. Scarlet put his hood up in embarrassment; they were going to be in so much trouble.

He saw Potter looking at him funny; he nodded his head towards the driver. Potter understood what he was trying to convey. "Ron I should tell you, most muggles aren't used to seeing a flying car."

"Oh right!" Ron hit a button on the dashboard. "That's an invisibility booster, we should be fine now." Ron explained.

"Well that solves one problem. Okay now explain to me what happened to you over the summer." Scarlet leaned back enjoying having the back seats to himself.

Soon Potter explained to him that a house elf popped into his room one night warning him that terrible things were about to happen at Hogwarts. Scarlet wasn't sure what to think of the warning, his first instinct was to stay vigilant when they got there, but upon hearing the elfs questionable sanity he wondered how serious he should take the warning.

Soon after Potter explained he was picked up by Ron and his brothers and stayed the rest of the summer at The Burrow. Explaining the activities they got up to in their free time, evening mentioning the mishap with the floo powder. Scarlet smiled in amusement at hearing Potter screw up his first floo travel. Scarlet could tell at certain parts of the story they were keeping purposely vague, when Ron had mentioned iron bars Potter quickly shushed him quickly moving on. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but that was their own business and he had no interest in finding out.

He soon retold his summer experience keeping certain personal moments out, he heard Ron make a sound a wounded puppy makes at the mention of summer assignments. _'Hermoine was right, he did leave it till the last few days.'_

It was soon after he finished that he noticed the invisibility start to wear off.

"Oh no! The invisibility booster must be faulty." Ron pressed the button a few more times but no luck.

"Well come on then, let's go lower. We need to find the train." Potter said, Ron brought the car down to on top the tracks. "Now all we have to do is catch up with the train."

"Can't be far behind." Ron shrugged. The soon heard a train whistle not far behind. "We must be getting close." Ron said excitingly.

"That's the spirit boys." Scarlet muttered looking around for the train, but not seeing it up ahead. _'If the trains not in front of us, then its-'_ Another train whistle went off only much louder for the three boys. They turned around and screamed at the incoming train behind them.

Ron reacted quickly and spun out of the trains way, but lost control resulting in multiple flips in mid-air. Unfortunately, the multiple spins caused Potter to become disorientated and accidentally opened the car door, he would've been thrown out if Scarlet didn't grab onto his hand, but now Potter was dangling out of the car barely holding on.

XXX

"Hey, George isn't that dad's car?"

The other twin looked out the window. "I believe it is Fred, is that Ron driving, and Harry hanging out of it?"

"Indeed it is." Fred agreed.

"Wicked." They both said.

XXX

"Hey, Seamus is that a bird?" Dean Thomas asked his friend, pointing out the window.

"Naw it's a plane!" Seamus disagreed.

"Its Potter and Weasley!" They shouted together.

They both had awestruck faces watching the scene unfold. While Neville's jaw dropped at the scene, resulting in his half-eaten chocolate frog to drop out of his mouth.

XXX

Ginny Weasley had settled in comfortably on the train ride to Hogwarts, she had met a couple others first years and hoped that she'd share the same house with most of them.

She was currently writing in her new book, specifically about a certain Gryffindor, she didn't remember picking it out during the trip to Diagon Alley but figured it was a gift from her parents. It looked a bit old, but she had wanted a new diary for a while now.

She had stopped writing to check out the view when her heart sank. She let loose a loud scream as she watched her crush hanging out of her families car!

Her mother had read her stories about the boy-who-lived, and she had waited so long to meet him, and go to school with him. What cruel irony would it be for her to finally meet him only for him to die soon afterward?

"Ron you git, do something useful in your life and save him!" Ginny pleaded.

XXX

Hermoine was a nervous wreck; she hadn't seen any of the boys on the train since it departed. She had doubled check each compartment and still nothing. She sat down and pulled out her book, thinking a nice read would calm her down. She quickly noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and looked at the window. Her eyes narrowed at the boy's stupidity!

"Those idiots!"

XXX

Daphne Greengrass was currently enjoying a pleasant meal with her friend Tracey Davis. Her little sister Astoria had left some time ago to see her friends, so she took it as an opportunity to corner her friend, she had just finished interrogating her friend on how her vacation with Blaise Zabini went. Suffice to say Daphne enjoyed the payback she delivered for all the teasing she and Scarlet had to endure last year.

"Where is Scarlet by the way? You said he'd meet with us for lunch." Tracey wondered.

"Granger is probably on another ranting to him about something ridiculous she read." Daphne muttered darkly.

"You don't like her do you?" Tracey asked, even though she knew the answer.

Daphne just glared at the question, she was about to respond before her friend interrupted her.

"Look out the window!" Tracey shouted.

Daphne turned her head and her eyes widened at the scene. "Is Weasley actually driving a flying car!?"

"I think that's Potter hanging out of it." Tracey added.

Daphne narrowed her eyes at the idiotic Gryffindors, she was about to say another insult before she noticed a third party in the back seat. "Scarlet!?"

"Oh wow he's there too…didn't think he was that stupid to join them." Tracey muttered.

XXX

Scarlet quickly pulled Potter back in the car, while mindful to keep his hood up, he didn't want any of the students recognizing him.

"Safe to say we found the train." Potter said after taking several deep breaths.

"Understatement of the year, you got the car under control?" Scarlet asked Ron. The redhead nodded and soon they were a safe distance away from the train.

After that, the ride to Hogwarts was surprisingly calm, after nearly dying none of the boys were interested in talking much and settled for peace and quiet while enjoying the view of passing landscape. Scarlet was actually enjoying himself, it was a bit of a bumpy ride, but right now he was enjoying his decision to join them for a ride. Of course knowing their luck disaster wasn't far behind.

Nighttime soon came and Hogwarts came into view. "Welcome home Harry." Ron said happily. But before they boys could celebrate their arrival the car started a rumble, and soon the car took a nosedive towards the castle.

"Ron land by that tree, it should break our fall!" Potter screamed.

Scarlet immediately knew that was a bad idea, he had read about the Whomping Willow last year, and made sure to stay away from it.

"Don't do that we'll die! Land by the lake!" Scarlet ordered.

Ron nodded and steered the car towards the black lake, but Scarlet's heart soon dropped as he noticed where they were going to land. _'That idiot I said by the lake, not in the middle of it!'_ He didn't have time to scold Ron as they crashed into the lake, throwing them up and down their seats at impact. Soon the car was filling with water as it slowly started to submerge.

"Open the trunk!" Scarlet barked while opening his window and climbing out. Soon all three were swimming onto shore; right as they got there they turned around and saw what was left of the car sink into the bottom of the lake.

"My wand! Look at my wand!" Ron held up his wand broken in half. Broken upon impact in the lake.

"What about our stuff?" Potter asked worriedly.

Scarlet sighed in annoyance, it was the idiot's fault for not controlling the car, and the other idiot's fault for putting them all in this position. He walked over to the edge of the lake trying to get an idea of the general direction of the sunken car.

"Enough about your wand! Did you open the trunk like I said?" Scarlet was in no mood for whining.

"Ye-yes!" Ron squeaked.

"Accio trunks!" Scarlet pointed his wand where he thought the car might be.

As if they were majestic creature's three trunks flung out of the water and landed at the boy's feet.

"Thanks Scarlet."

"That's bloody brilliant!"

Scarlet didn't care for the boy's thanks, he opened his trunk and sighed in relief that it was completely dry inside. He closed it and started drag it with him towards the castle.

"Scarlet where are you going? The Great Hall is the other way?" Potter asked.

"If you didn't notice thanks to you two idiots, we displayed magic to muggles, nearly drowned to death, and now I'm soaking wet and tired! I don't feel like going to a feast!" Scarlet yelled. He levitated the trunk and left the two boys by the shore. In truth that was part of the reason for Scarlet. The other being the car had passed by the giant windows of the Great Hall, someone was bound to notice them fly by, and investigate. The last thing this horrible day needed was him getting detention because of those gits.

After casting multiple drying charms on himself he made his way towards Gryffindor tower, he hoped Professor McGonagall hadn't changed the password from last year, his hopes were realized as he was let in by the Fat Lady. He brought his trunk into the second year boy's dorm and chose the bed farthest from the rest of them.

It would be a few hours before the feast was over so he took out a fictional novel to distract him, but the day's events kept coming up and he started to get angrier and angrier. He threw the book away in frustration and started to pace the room, it was just not Shades day. Scarlet wasn't sure why he was so angry, last year he did well at taming his emotions, now he looked like a volcano ready to erupt. He looked at the bathroom's mirror, and saw that his hair was flaming red. He took a couple of deep breaths and watched it change back to black. He did not want his secret powers to be found out because he couldn't control his emotions.

Scarlet continued to pace around the room; he needed to figure out a way to calm down before the other students showed up. He wasn't sure what to do, he needed to vent out his frustrations, but how? He couldn't cast magic, as he would most likely destroy the room, and there was nothing worth breaking. That's when an idea hit him, he had heard about certain ways muggles deal with anger, and how to vent it in a healthy way. He walked over to his trunks with the idea on hand.

XXX

He was lost in his musings as he heard people start to walk into the common room, he put away his stuff in his trunks and walked down to see everyone. The room seemed to be in good spirits, that wasn't surprising, it was the same way last year. However, everyone seemed to be discussing something. Scarlet saw Hermoine walk in and he quickly approached her.

"Hi Hermoine, how was the feast?" Scarlet asked.

She narrowed her eyes at him and pulled him over to an empty corner. "I told you to get along with them not join them on their idiotic adventures!" She whispered harshly while smacking his arm repeatedly. "You could've died!" After she finished her rant she embraced him in a tight hug.

Scarlet had never seen someone do a 180 on their emotions; he just awkwardly returned the embrace. He would never understand girls. They soon broke up and she looked at him pointedly.

"First off, you were the one that told me to make a better effort with them." She just narrowed her eyes at his response. "Fine! The barrier to the platform closed."

"That's impossible, the barrier never closes." Hermoine stated.

"That's what I thought too, but by the time we realized it was, in fact, closed the train had already left. I for one wanted to stay put and wait for someone to help us, but Potter and Weasley thought it was a trap." Scarlet started to look around the common room for the two but didn't see them.

"A trap? Who would do such a thing?"

"Apparently Potter was visited by a house-elf during the summer, it delivered some ominous warning at danger coming to Hogwarts, the whole thing sounded ridiculous, didn't they explain it during the feast?" Scarlet was still very doubtful of the warning, but he would have to wait and see.

"What's a house elf?" Hermoine pondered.

"After everything I said, that's the one thing you ask? Whatever, it's a creature bound to a family to serve their commands. They usually take care of the cleaning, and meal preparations, and anything else they need." Scarlet explained.

"Do they get paid?" Hermoine pressed.

"What? No, families don't pay them." Scarlet frowned.

"That's slavery! Why hasn't anyone done something about it!"

"What would a house elf possibly need money for?" Scarlet mused.

"On whatever they want, they should be able to choose, instead of being forced to work."

"I used to have one, trust me they are more than happy with their lifestyle." Scarlet defended.

"Scarlet! That's terrible." Hermoine was appalled at Scarlet's admittance.

"No, what's terrible is you not telling me what happened during the feast, what happened with Potter and Weasley?" Scarlet was annoyed at how much the conversation was being sidetracked.

"This topic isn't over. " She threatened. "They never showed up long enough to explain. They showed up a little after the sorting finished, but before they could sit down Professor Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall escorted them out, everyone saw the flying car come in." Hermoine said.

"By the way, how did you even know I was in the car? I was careful to have my hood up." Scarlet asked while making sure no one was close by to overhear them.

"Oh honestly, if it was anyone else in your position they wouldn't hide their face in the situation." Hermoine smirked. Scarlet didn't like how easy she figured him out just now.

"Well since Potter and Weasley are being interrogated by Snape it's only a matter of time before they break, and I'm dragged down with them." Scarlet sighed in annoyance, getting detention on the first day would be a bow wrapped on this awful day.

"At least you'll be a hero to everyone in Gryffindor if you are in trouble?" Hermoine consoled.

"What do you mean?" Scarlet asked.

Before Hermoine could explain the portrait opened and Potter and Weasley walked in. There was dead silence upon them entering, Scarlet was certain the entire house was furious at them, most likely Snape took pleasure in taking a lot of points from Gryffindor.

The silence was broken by someone clapping, soon more and more people started clapping, suddenly everyone was rushing towards Potter and Weasley. Both boys were lifted onto the shoulders of older students, as everyone started celebrating.

Scarlet was seething inside; everyone was cheering them for them. This wasn't a bloody Quidditch game, they all nearly died. Scarlet scoffed at the scene and walked back to his dorm, he felt he might unleash some accidental magic if he stayed in the room any longer.

"Scarlet wait!" Hermoine ran up to him holding a piece of paper. "Daphne wanted me to give you this." Scarlet took the paper and read it; it was instructions to meet her tomorrow. His mind was screaming expletive after expletive. This would not end well for him.

He thanked Hermoine before walking into his room, getting changed for bed and closed the curtains around him, he didn't want anyone bothering him, and he just wanted the day to end. _'This year couldn't possibly get worse.'_

XXX

' _Draco'_

Malfoy shifted in his bed at the voice, Crabbe probably forgot to do his homework and wanted him to help.

' _Draco'_

Draco continued to stir, it didn't sound like Crabb, or Goyle, or anyone else in his dorm.

' _Draco!'_

Draco bolted at his name being called, he looked around the dark dorm but everyone was asleep. He got up and walked over to his door and opened it, he looked out and saw nobody in the hallway.

' _Come here Draco'_

Draco stepped out of his dorm and walked over to the common room, the voice in his head kept repeating his name.

He soon walked into the common room and saw it was empty, he looked around, there was no one here. "Mum was right, no more sweets before bed." As he turned around he bumped into someone, causing him to fall down. He looked up in surprise and saw a cloaked figure; the person was very tall and covered in dark clothing.

"What do you want?" He asked worriedly.

" **I need your help Draco.** " The figure spoke, its voice sounding very dark and distorted.

"My father, he can get you whatever you want." He stood up and took a step back; he had never been this scared in his life.

The figure shook its head at him. " **Only together, can we bring about my return.** " The dark figure took a few more steps towards Draco until it was standing right in front of him

"Wh- who ar- are – you?" Draco stuttered. It was easily twice his size.

" **I am the Heir of Slytherin** "

 **Authors Note:** This chapter officially begins the second year at Hogwarts. I'm really excited to write this year as I've done a much better job of planning ahead, and feel the changes I made are very original, and thus improve on my quality of writing.

A quick change you noticed is that the car sunk into the bottom of the lake, it's not going to be able to save them when they travel into the forbidden forest, so what will happen? Have to wait and see.

Along with that, all story long will be the mystery of who is the person underneath the cloak. One thing I noticed when trying to drop hints is whether they are too obvious or not, so hopefully when it comes to the reveal you all will be shocked. Thank you all for reading, see you next chapter.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: All the characters and the world of Harry's Potter is owned by JK Rowling.**

Within the Shadows Chapter 2

" _Hey! Give it back!" Scarlet yelled. He was playing on the playground with his new toy when someone came up to him and grabbed it out of his hands._

" _No its mine!" The bully then tried to walk away, but Scarlet ran after him_

" _My mommy gave it to me for being special!" Scarlet yelled while tugging on the bullies sleeves._

 _The bully pushed Scarlet down on the ground and laughed when he started to tear up._

" _Going to cry? What a baby." The bully laughed._

 _Scarlet tried to get up again but the bigger kid just pushed him back down. Scarlet started to get angrier and angrier every time he tried to get up, only to fall back on the ground._

 _"Give it back please!" Scarlet pleaded._

" _No!" The bully stomped on Scarlet's stomach, causing him to yell in pain._

" _Stop it!" Scarlet said._

" _Stop it!" He cried again, but the bully just laughed._

 _Scarlet could feel something inside him growing the longer this went on, the pain he felt wasn't helping and soon he couldn't stop but let it out._

" _STOP IT!" He yelled._

 _Scarlet could feel a blast of cold wind around him, he saw the bully fly back and landed several feet away, he kept screaming and could see the louder he got the more powerful the cold wind became, eventually when he felt he couldn't scream anymore he stopped and landed on his knees out of breath._

 _When Scarlet finally looked up he could see what had happened. He didn't know how but everything around him was frozen solid, the steel playground equipment was frozen, where there used to be sand was now snow, and the bully that was tormenting him was lying on the ground knocked out._

 _Scarlet was confused about what happened, his mommy told him it was summer and that it didn't snow in summer, so why was there snow here? What really confused him was why he wasn't freezing cold. His parents always told him to wear big clothes because the snow was cold, but he felt fine, his fingers weren't even in pain from when he used to pick up snow when he forgot to wear mittens._

" _Scarlet?" his father's voice said._

 _Scarlet looked over and saw his father, he ran over to him happy his dad was here. He was too busy running towards him that he missed the shocked look on his face. Before he could engulf him in a hug his dad stopped him. He looked up and saw his dad have a dark look in his eyes. Scarlet had gotten in trouble before, jumping on the bed, eating sweets before dinner, but this look was different. Scarlet tilted his head in curiosity about why his father looked like that._

" _Dad, look what it's snowing!" Scarlet pointed over to the playground, which was still frozen solid. If anything his fathers look darkened. The man put a hand on Scarlet's shoulder and started to pull him roughly away._

" _Ow, dad you're hurting me." Scarlet whimpered, why was his daddy being so weird?_

" _I knew it was suspicious how you turned up on my steps out of nowhere. Father give me strength." The man muttered to himself, not caring how tight he was hanging on to his_ _ **son.**_ _Scarlet didn't know it at the time but that day was the start of the worst years of his entire life._

XXX

Scarlet woke up abruptly, and quickly sat up in his bed, his body completely drenched in sweat, he lifted his hand and saw it was shaking uncontrollably, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. Once he felt better he peaked through his curtains and saw that everyone was still asleep. He reclosed it and continued to take deep breaths.

After his impromptu use of apparition to get away from the man, he'd had nightmares regularly the first year or so, but as time past they eventually stopped. Even with his trip to London, he didn't have any nightmares. Scarlet thought that he'd finally gotten over it backs then; he wasn't sure why he was reliving his nightmare now.

He slowly stood up and walked carefully over to the bathroom, not wanting to wake anyone up. When he looked at himself in the mirror he looked like a mess, his skin was pale, hair all over the place, and his eyes were literally beet red. Scarlet took a second to compose himself before he started to morph his face back to what it used to be.

He took a quick shower and got dressed; however, he stopped himself at the mirror. For all of last year he looked the exact same, dark blue eyes, hair spiked to the side, he figured since he was changing that maybe his physical appearance could change too. He wasn't sure where he got the idea but he changed his hair to completely black and had it styled so it was combed to the side, changed his eyes to more or a dark brown, even made his skin change slightly paler. Scarlet was never one to care for his appearance beforehand but he did admit that he did look nice. _'Tonks would be proud.'_

When he walked into the common room he noticed it was empty. He didn't find it surprising, the nightmare had woken him up a bit early, but he was grateful he got to avoid talking to Potter and Weasley for at least another hour.

He left the common room and headed to the empty classroom he was going to meet Daphne in, he brought along a book to keep him occupied till she arrived. It was an hour later before he heard the door opened and Greengrass walked in.

From her neutral face, Scarlet couldn't figure out if she was happy, sad, angry, or just didn't care about this meeting, he just hoped it wasn't anger. He carefully walked around the table to meet her; she stood in front of him for a few moments, before hitting him on the shoulder.

"You stupid!"

 **Smack**

"Idiotic!"

 **Smack**

"Asinine!"

 **Smack**

"Gryffindor!"

 **Smack,** **Smack,** **Smack,** **Smack**

At that point, Scarlet grabbed both of her arms stopping her from sending him to the hospital wing. She struggled for a few moments in his grip before sighing in defeat. Scarlet held on for a few moments before reluctantly letting go of her.

"I probably deserved that and more, but let me explain Daphne." Scarlet was happy he had someone in his life that cared enough about him to smack him whenever he was an idiot, but right now he needed to talk.

"You could've gotten yourself killed! At what point did it not register that to get inside a flying car was a bad idea!? Especially one with Potter and his asinine sidekick at the wheel!" Daphne said angrily.

"If it makes you feel better, and stop hitting me I didn't want to get in." Scarlet defended. Daphne looked ready to start another tirade before he quickly continued. "The barrier closed, Potter and Weasley crashed into a brick wall instead of getting on the platform." He explained.

"Someone would've come by and help you. You're not the first student to miss the train." She said.

"Thank you! I said the same thing, but Potter had it in his head that it was a trap." Daphne looked skeptical at that. "He said he was visited by a deranged house elf that warned him terrible things were going to happen at Hogwarts, I didn't believe him but considering the platform closed on us I had to give it some thought. Wait how did you even know I was in the car? I had my hood up." Scarlet didn't want to think he was becoming predictable.

"You're the only Gryffindor I know that doesn't want to be in the spotlight." Daphne said as if it was the most obvious thing in this room. "Fair warning Astoria was very disappointed you missed her sorting." She added.

"Guess I'll have to make a trip to Honeydukes and bring her some chocolate." He said casually.

"I still don't know how you got all that stuff from Hogsmeade last year." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're only allowed to be mad at me, one reason per day." Daphne continued to glare at him. "Maybe I'll buy you chocolate as well." He muttered.

"I'm sure you'll tell me soon enough, anyway breakfast is going to start soon and I promised Astoria I would sit with her on the first day." Daphne started to walk to the door.

"Hold on." He said catching up with her. "In case it is a real warning then I need you to keep a look out for your sister and anything else unusual." Scarlet was still doubtful of the elfs warning, but the fact that Voldemort was out there, put any cause of trouble on high alert, no matter how crazy the source is.

"Of course, need a mole to make sure no one in Slytherin is up to anything evil." She muttered.

"No, I'm asking you because you're one of only two people I completely trust in this school." Scarlet said honestly, he saw a lot of himself in her, which made him comfortable around her. "I saw most of your housemates at your birthday, yes some of them have a bit of an attitude problem but I don't think they're that malicious."

Daphne had a thoughtful look on her face. "Thanks, Scarlet, that means a lot." She smiled at him before walking out of the room.

Scarlet knew he probably shouldn't be worried, but there was a nagging voice telling him to be on guard, of course, if history was an indicator than it would be a peaceful two months before Halloween, that's when the craziness hit a new level. He stepped out of the classroom and head straight to the Great Hall.

It wasn't fully packed when he got in, it was the last weekend before class started so everyone was trying to enjoy it, by sleeping in. He made his way over to Gryffindor tables sitting across from the twins who were discussing something.

"Wotcher fellas." He sat down and started to pull food on his plate.

"Hey Scarlet, just the boy we were looking for." George said. After a whole year of knowing them, he felt confident he could tell the two apart.

"Should I be worried?" He asked.

"Not you, but other people should." Fred snickered.

"Alright what is it?" Scarlet asked.

"Well it's not ready yet, should be by Halloween night." Fred pulled out something small from his bag. Scarlet quickly noticed it was very small and shiny.

"We're going to plant theses while everyone is enjoying the feast that night."

"Once everyone is asleep that's when the fun begins."

"These will creature ghoulish sounds all over the castle." George explained.

"Ranging from werewolves, vampires, and anything creepy." Fred smirked.

"Even have a couple blocks showcasing how girly their screams are in this." George added.

Scarlet picked up the orb from Fred's hand, the first thing he saw was his reflection looking back at him, upon closer inspection, it looked like an ordinary ball. However, Scarlet had learned quickly never to underestimate the twins, especially when it came to their creations.

"Alright I understand the plan, but what do you want me to do?" He asked.

"Well." Both twins looked over their shoulders making sure no one was around to listen. "You have certain _abilities_ that would come in handy.

"Even though we have the map we'll be separated putting these all over the castle."

"So if you could follow one of us and _change,_ you could distract anyone that approaches." Fred finished.

His first instinct was to say no, he had already missed one Halloween feast because he was busy, and he didn't want to miss another. Scarlet, however, thought that this might be a good opportunity, aside from classes this would be a good project to keep his mind busy, and hopefully cause any future nightmares to stop. Also being in on the prank was better than being on the receiving end of it.

"Fine, I'll help you on Halloween." Scarlet gave in to them. "However, on one condition."

"What condition is that?" Fred asked.

"From time to time, I would like to borrow the map." Scarlet offered, a map that handy would help him keep an eye on Hogwarts.

"What would you need the map for?" George asked seriously and then broke into a sinister grin. "Want to peek into the ladies change room?"

Scarlet had long suffered through Tonks teasing, these amateurs were nothing. "No, I want to peek into the men's change room." He said seriously.

Fred spit out the pumpkin juice he was drinking, Scarlet was thankful he decided to sit across from George today. He couldn't help but smile at redhead's embarrassment.

"So is it a deal?" Scarlet offered his hand.

Fred shrugs his shoulders, and before Scarlet could retract his hand back, Fred had spat into his hand and grabbed onto to Scarlet's in a firm shake.

"I hate you." He muttered while whipping his hand on a cloth.

Soon more students started to fill into the Great Hall causing them to stop their plans for Halloween. Scarlet had inquired about Gryffindor's chances at Quidditch this year, not out of interest but more of just curtsey. He still wasn't that big a fan. The twins had asked how he was going to top this year in points, Scarlet had to hope that it was going to be a quiet year.

Eventually, the twins had to leave, muttering plans about toilet seats, but it seemed Scarlet had a sign taped to his back saying. "Talk to me I'm lonely."

"Hello, Shade." A feminine voice said behind him.

Scarlet turned around and saw Astoria Greengrass. It wasn't long since he'd last seen her; he'd popped by a handful of times at Greengrass manor during the summer and participated with the younger Greengrass in "Tea Time". Something he would never openly admit.

Right now he could see a difference, behind closed doors Astoria was a bubble of excitement, now she was standing up straight, formal in her speech, and seemed reserved. It could be the proper way her parents taught her how to act, but Scarlet believed the green emblem on her robes was the main factor. Regardless, he knew why she was here.

"Good morning Greengrass, might I say the green crest really brings out the color in your eyes." Scarlet thought a compliment would help breaks any animosity, however all he got was a glare. _'Note to self, Greengrass women don't take compliments well.'_

"You have a lot of nerve, you promised you'd be clapping with pride when I would get sorted in Slytherin." She pouted, she may be raised a pureblood but she was still a child.

"I'm sorry Astoria, I ended up missing the train and had to catch a ride with Slytherins two favorite Gryffindors." He explained.

"Daphne retold me everything you two talked about. I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks Astoria, you better hurry don't want people getting the wrong idea, were supposed to hate each other now." Scarlet shooed the younger girl away.

"I'll be sure to say nasty things about you then." She giggled, she waved goodbye joining her classmates on the other side of the room.

Scarlet was about to enjoy his meal in peace when three familiar people sat around him. He mentally cursed the timing of their arrival, saying a quick hello before eating his meal.

After a quick greeting, there was a bit of awkward silence between the four of them, Scarlet hadn't interacted with the boys since his outburst by the lake, he was still bitter about it, who wouldn't be? He had ignored his own advice and joined the boys on the car ride, which ended with him cold, wet, and tired, he felt he deserved to sulk a little longer, but a quick elbow by Hermoine told him sulking time was over.

"Who was that girl?" Ron asked before he could say anything, he knew straight away he was referring to Astoria.

"That was my friend saying hello." He was in no mood for Weasley's bias toward Slytherin. He knew as long as that was an issue there wouldn't be a chance at a friendship.

From the look on Ron's face, he clearly had a problem with that, but a quick look from Potter told him to drop it.

Hermoine looked ready to say something but morning owls started to show up, Scarlet half expected an angry letter from Tonks or Andromeda about his actions last night. He shuddered at the idea that maybe both of them were going to scold him. But as owls started showing up none of them were coming even close to him, then he saw one make a beeline towards him. He inwardly sighed at the angry letter about to come, but as the bird was about to reach him, instead of stopping by him it flew past him and crashed into Hermoine's milk jug.

Now that it had stopped Scarlet had a chance to get a better look at it, it was familiar but he didn't recognize as it as the Tonks family owl, this one was older, and a bit disorientated.

"Oh no." Ron whimpered across from him.

That's when it came to Scarlet, that was the Weasley's family owl, he saw Ron shaking looking over the red letter the bird was carrying. _'Red letter?'_

"Look everyone, Weasleys got himself a Howler." Seamus said amused by this. As did everyone else as the Great Hall erupted in laughter.

Scarlet looked over to see if any knew what a Howler was, but Potter was just as confused, and Hermoine was too busy trying clean her clothes of the spilled milk.

"I got one from my grandmother once, it was horrible." Neville added. If anything Weasley looked even more frightened at that.

As Ron was about to grab it, the letter came alive and started to float in front of him. Scarlet had no idea what a Howler was but he felt he was about to find out.

"RONALD WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR! WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU! I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED WITH YOUR BEHAVIOUR! YOUR FATHER IS FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK AND IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE, WE'LL TAKE YOU STRAIGHT HOME!" The voice of Molly Weasley was terrifying to everyone in the Hall. Ron looked ready to cry.

"Oh, and congratulations Ginny dear on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud." Ginny looked like she wanted to crawl underneath the table and hide. Scarlet noticed that all the Weasleys looked to a certain degree embarrassed but thankful it wasn't them being yelled at.

It wasn't long before everyone went back to their own business and the four were left to deal with…. that. Hermoine seemed to be in a better mood after it, she must've felt the letter was enough punishment for the boys. She looked over at Scarlet and motioned with her head to say something.

Scarlet felt somewhat similar, having the letter yell at him would be one of his fondest memories for a while, he figured the boy suffered enough for their stupidity.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you last night." Scarlet figured the fastest way to get out of this was to just apologize. "I still think you two were complete gits that day. However, I shouldn't have yelled at you, in your own way you were looking out for me." He saw the two look surprised at his apology.

We're sorry too, we should've listened to you, the professor had explained that there's an Auror by the barrier that checks on any missing cases. Though Snape felt delighted in telling us that certain tidbit." Potter elbowed his friend.

"Yeah, sorry." Ron muttered looking down at his plate.

Scarlet saw Hermoine look between all three of them, he wasn't sure what she expected to happen, there were still some issues that hadn't been dealt with, it would be naïve to think a summer apart would fix all their issues.

"Since I went to bed early I didn't get a chance to find out, how bad is it?" Scarlet had thought Professor McGonagall would march up to him handing out his detention for last night, but instead, she just smiled at him passing by. Was she delaying the torture? Making him squirm in his seat purposely just to enjoy the scene?

"How bad what is?" Ron asked with a mouth full of food. Potter seemed unsure as well.

"Our detention of course."

Potter and Weasley just looked at Scarlet as if he had two heads, he wasn't sure why it was so difficult to answer this question. He looked over at Hermoine for help she just continued to watch all three of them.

"We'll me and Ron got a month's worth of detentions, along with 30 points taken from Gryffindor." Potter told him. Scarlet waited for when he'd explain his punishment but the boy just looked at him.

"And what about my punishment?" Scarlet said losing patience.

"You didn't get one." Ron sulked. Earning another elbow from Harry.

"How did I not get one? Snape was there, trust me there isn't much you can hide from him." Scarlet wasn't sure what happened that night, but he knew if two of his friends could figure out he was in the car, then the professors could too.

Potter and Weasley both explain what happened when they were dragged away by the teachers. Apparently, Snape was about to expel both of them before McGonagall and Dumbledore showed up to stop it. Their Head of House issued a month worth of detention and points reduction. Apparently not one of the professors had asked about a third party in the car, and both Harry and Ron decided to stay quiet about it.

"They never asked about anyone else, and when we saw you weren't in Snape's office with us, we figured they didn't know it was you." Harry explained.

"We kind of agreed that since it was our fault it happened we shouldn't say anything." Ron added.

Scarlet couldn't help but feel a bit touched by the sentiment if they had brought up his name they could've shortened their punishments but they didn't. He looked over and saw Hermoine smiling at the two boys with pride; he was starting to see what she saw in them. It was a nice gesture on their part; maybe a friendship wasn't out of the question.

"Thank you then, I appreciate what you two did, now that it's settled maybe we can use the weekend to use as a fresh start?" Scarlet offered.

Both Ron and Harry perked up at the idea, he wasn't if it was the mention of a fresh start or the fact it's the weekend but they both seemed eager for the idea. Hermoine seemed happy with it also, and Scarlet could see she was about to mention all of them studying ahead.

"Why don't we-"

"Let's walk around the castle, and explore the grounds." Scarlet quickly interrupted Hermoine. He gave her a sheepish look when she narrowed her eyes at him. But before she could argue about it, both boys were on there feet walking towards the door.

"Sorry Hermoine, but I've spent enough of my summer reading ahead of the curriculum, I need some time to relax before the school drops a lot of homework on us." Scarlet grabbed a small muffin off the table before standing up and following the boys.

Scarlet couldn't hear her properly, but he could've sworn she muttered something about boys and their need to avoid studying. In truth he was being a bit selfish with this decision. Since he's had nightmares during the last week of summer he was hoping a change of scenery would help, it was a few of the muggle books suggested he do.

The books had also suggested that talking to someone about his issues would help, but he quickly threw away that notion. There wasn't anyone in school he could talk to about it, Daphne wasn't one to outwardly express her emotions other than anger, and he couldn't imagine her being the sensitive comforting type. Hermoine was one he considered but she grew up in a loving home and was nurtured instead of abused, she wouldn't be able to relate to his problems. Ron lacked any sort of qualities that made him a serious option, Harry was someone he knew too little about, and doubted could help him.

Thus he was left with no one and hoped that the nightmares would go away, they did so when he moved into his new home. The first few months were a rough adjustment for him, he was scared to go to sleep that as soon as he closed his eyes his bedroom door would burst open and the priest would drag him out with his father close behind. The times he did fall asleep it would be to relieve one of his painful memories, that's what struck him the most. The fact that these nightmares were his memories and not some figment of his imagination. Eventually, the nightmares soon stopped happening as frequently, and by the end of his first year home stopped completely.

He wasn't sure what started them again, all he remembered was thinking the nightmare was a one-off, but then a few days later another one happened, and now he had one this morning. They seemed to happen at random as well, there wasn't anything that happened those days that could possibly explain those memories popping up, he just hoped it would stop soon.

He quickly caught up with the trio and for the rest of the day just walked along the grounds of Hogwarts. During his first year, he didn't have much of a chance to do so, the grounds on warmer days were packed with students laying around, talking and mingling, something he didn't use to do. They circled the lake a bit, every so often a giant squid would pop out and make a huge splash far away, just another unique thing about Hogwarts.

Around the late afternoon, they had settled underneath a giant tree enjoying the shade it provided, and just relaxed enjoying their weekend.

"Shoot I forgot I'd help Neville with his History of Magic assignment, sorry I have to go, but I'll see you all at Dinner." She grabbed her things and left the three boys on their own.

"I don't know how she can take notes during that class, Binns has everyone asleep 5 minutes in." Ron grumbled.

"I know, I think I have some of your drool on me." Potter jokingly started to rub something off his shirt. "Actually Scarlet, I'm surprised you don't put much of an effort in that class, I see you nodding off like the rest of us."

Scarlet looked around him making sure no one nearby was listening. "I don't put much effort at all." He whispered to the boys.

"Not bloody likely, Hermoine told me you get perfect marks on all our assignments." Ron argued.

Scarlet chuckled at that, he did get perfect marks, but he didn't deserve them. "Let me tell you a secret my friend Tonks told me." He motioned for the boys to lean in. "Binns doesn't mark them."

Both boys looked confused at what he said. "Oh right, because he's a ghost." Ron said suddenly.

"Nope."

"Then how?" If anything Ron looked really confused, Harry seemed to be mulling it over but still couldn't come up with anything.

"Okay let me rephrase that, he does technically mark them, he just doesn't do a good job at it. Tonks told me he doesn't grade our parchments on the content written, but on the length of it." Scarlet explained.

"So he doesn't read them?" Harry asked.

"Nope, he just checks to make sure it's the length he asked for and depending on if it is, grades it. My friend told me how she accidentally submitted a rough draft on her potions essay by accident to Binss, then the next class comes and he hands her parchment back, with an "E" on it!" Scarlet didn't feel guilty about taking advantage of this information if Binns was too lazy to look at their work, why should he put an effort into the homework assigned. Of course, it came back to bite him in the arse when the exam came and he was left studying a full year worth of information in about a week.

"You're not taking the mickey out of us are you?" Ron asked skeptically.

"I'm not, in fact, why don't I show you what I plan to submit when we get back to the dorms tonight." Scarlet was very amused by the faces both of them were making. They looked as if Christmas came early.

"Of course you have to agree not to tell anything to Hermoine, she will go and inform McGonagall and suddenly we actually have to do homework in that class." Scarlet warned the boys.

"Not bloody likely, this will be the first class I'll be able to do well in without her help." Ron quickly agreed.

Potter looked a bit hesitant about it, but he knew how boring the class was, and felt this would make things a lot simpler.

They stayed there for a bit, making small talk on certain topics, Harry had told him how he spent the end of his summer with the Weasleys, and Ron had tried his best describe to him what The Burrow looked liked. It wasn't long before their peace was interrupted.

"Hi, guys!" Katie beamed walking over to them. Close behind her were Fred and George, all three were carrying their brooms.

"Wotcher Bell. Off to practice Quidditch?" Scarlet asked even though he knew the answer.

"Yeah, me and the twins were itching to get on the field, we need a few more bodies and were hoping you all could join us." Katie offered.

"Of course, no one in their right mind would decline Quidditch." Ron exclaimed standing up he and Potter both quickly agreed to the idea of playing Quidditch.

"I appreciate wanting to include me but no thanks, I'll just watch." Scarlet said getting up and wiping the grass off his jeans.

"Its just a friendly match Scarlet."

"Afraid you'll lose?" Fred and George joked.

"You're idea of a friendly match is making me keeper while you two hit bludgers at me." Scarlet could see Ron shudder at the thought, clearly, his older brothers liked to pick on him a lot. "Besides I don't have much experience on a broom."

"You wound me Scarlet." George mocking cried placing a hand over his heart.

"Oh come on, I promise that won't happen, besides I gave you a few lessons last year, and you have a real talent for it." Katie pointed out. The lessons she talked about went well, Scarlet quickly got the hang of the broom and was somewhat comfortable on it by the end of the year. However he wasn't interested in Quidditch, he could understand the effort and skill that went into playing it, but it just wasn't for him right now, maybe next year.

Scarlet shook his head and turned around to lay back down on the grass when all of sudden two hands grabbed on to each of his arms. He was lifted off the ground and carried backward. He looked over his shoulder and saw the twins smirking at him.

"Nothing personal Scarlet"

"Just need someone for target practice."

"Besides we just saved you from a horrible fate"

"No one says no to Katie"

"Got a mad temper if you cross her"

"Which you almost did."

Scarlet looked at the girl in question and saw an innocent smile on her face, but as he looked at her hands saw that she had pulled out her wand. He silently thanked the twins for saving him from a horrible fate; Merlin knows what kind of curse Katie would've put him under if the twins weren't dragging him to the fields.

 **Authors Notes: Bit of a quiet chapter, I didn't want to jump into the action right away and figured this would be a good cushion chapter to start off with. Next chapter is going to cover the beginning of school and end on Halloween, that's when things are going to get started. Like I said it's going to be a different story than the books and movies and the end of next chapter you're going to see why. Thanks again for reading and I'll see you all next week.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: All the characters and the world of Harry's Potter is owned by JK Rowling.**

Within the Shadows Chapter 3

The classroom was bristling with excitement; today would be the first class with their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. This was the one class Scarlet looked forward to the most, he had done his research on Lockhart, yes the man was a bit of a narcissistic, and overdramatic, but the books had checked out, the events had actually happened. Since no one had argued against the claims made by Lockhart, the man must've been behind them all.

Beside him Hermoine was just as excited, they went through a few of his books during the summer, he was sure the bushy-haired girl had a small crush on him. One look at Susan Bones ahead of him he knew she wasn't the only one.

However not everyone has shared their enthusiasm, both Potter and Weasley were hesitant at the idea of the man teaching them. Scarlet could understand Potters reasoning, Lockhart had come up to Harry and suggested that he was so desperate to hold his fame that he crashed a car into the lake on purpose. Weasley, on the other hand, couldn't form his opinion and just relied on Harry's view on things.

Scarlet was soon broken out of his thoughts as the man himself appeared outside his office door. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at the "Grand Entrance", he may be willing to put up with the man's quirks, but that didn't mean he'd ignore them completely.

"Let me introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor…Me. Gilderoy Lockhart" The man started to walk down the steps leading to the rest of the class. "Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and most importantly five-time winner of Witches Weekly Most-Charming Smile award." On cue, he sported the smile.

Scarlet could hear Hermione, Bones and a few girls around him sigh in joy at his appearance, he looked over and saw most of the boys give the opposite reactions and almost disgusted at the man.

He could only shake his head at them, if there was anything he took away from last year was to never make assumptions based on appearance, his relationships with Hermoine and Tonks were an example of that.

"Now, now, I know how exciting it is to have a fearsome, powerful, and charming individual teaching you, but just remember I'm just like you, so don't feel shy in asking me for additional help." Lockhart waved his wand towards his desks and started to levitate a pile of papers toward them. "Have no fear, this won't be worth any marks, just to give me an idea where you are. You can begin as soon as you get your test."

Scarlet quickly grabbed his quill and ink eager to start, only to be a tad confused when the paper landed in front of him and he read the first question. _'What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite colour?'_ He silently read, he looked ahead at the next few questions and was even more confused. Some of the questions would ask what the man's greatest accomplishment were, what type of hair products he used, and other personal questions.

Right beside him, he could see Hermoine quickly writing down her answers, not even slightly concerned about the type of questions the man had given them. Scarlet sighed to himself and started to fill them in, a bit disappointed so far. _'I hope this isn't what I can expect for the whole year.'_

 _XXX_

"That was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts class I've ever been too." Scarlet said happily.

The others were a bit worried by Scarlet's behavior toward their last class, they had never seen Shade be so happy, let alone smile, and they didn't know how to react.

"You're bloody joking right? The man let loose pixies into the class and told us to fend for ourselves." Ron exclaimed.

"The man recreated an actual encounter with creatures. That's more than you'll ever get reading a textbook. Just imagine what he let loose in older years class's." Scarlet explained. Admittedly he was worried after the quiz, but once Lockhart put them in a fight or flight situation than he got on board with his teaching methods.

"Lockhart looked like he didn't do it on purpose, in fact, he didn't look like he knew anything at all." Potter asked.

"On the contrary, he just showed who amongst us have a fight or flight mentality, if it wasn't for Hermoine and I, you all would be prisoners for those pixies." Scarlet countered.

"Still felt it was a bit dangerous thing to do." Potter grumbled.

Scarlet stopped walking and looked back at both boys, annoyed they didn't understand. "There will come a time where both of you are surrounded by dark creatures, and you better hope you're prepared to survive or else you'll be nothing but food for them." Scarlet started to walk away leaving a bewildered Potter and Weasley behind him.

Hermoine just sighed at the conversation and motioned for both boys to continue walking, it was going to be a long year.

XXX

A few weeks had passed by since the first DADA class and everyone and everything had fallen into normalcy. Scarlet still didn't share that big of a bond with the two boys, much to Hermione's annoyance, but Scarlet was satisfied with what the three had, nothing personal and mainly school focused.

After the first week and nothing-malicious occurring Scarlet started to calm down and not worry as much about the warning. He laughed to himself after the first month that maybe he had gone a tad overboard worrying about a deranged elf's warning.

Though his days were left normal, and most of the time was uneventful, it was nighttime that was currently causing him the most trouble. After the first night the nightmares had stopped for a while but then would come up every so often. Scarlet still wasn't sure what was the cause of it, but right now it was manageable. Thankful for his metamorphmagus abilities he was able to hide his bags and appeared perfectly healthy.

He would sometimes see Hermoine giving him odd looks but he chose to ignore them, he wasn't one for deep meaningful conversations concerning himself, especially ones at school. He had a good system of changing the subject quickly with her by bringing up schoolwork or house elves rights.

Ever since she first learned about them she'd gone on a crusade to save them, she started pestering other students in different house about them, to help her free them, but it fell on deaf ears.

However, today was not one of those days.

"Scarlet are you alright?" Hermoine asked the bushy-haired girl had made sure to ask him right when he was finished his readings, making sure he had no excuses to use to not answer her. Clever girl.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" Scarlet asked faking innocence.

"You're different." She responded.

"What are you talking about?" He was genuinely confused by what she meant.

He saw her bite her lip; she appeared to be thinking carefully about how to word her next words. "You seem to be more…emotional." She finally said.

Scarlet could only raise an eyebrow at that. He'd heard a lot of terms thrown his way, but emotional?

Seeing her friend confused by what she said, she continued. "It's not as big as you think, I noticed small instances where you seem really happy one day, then the next day you can be really irritable, then back to your normal self. I thought maybe you were just under a lot of stress because of the term, but your grades have been magnificent, and you're finishing it just as quickly as me."

Scarlet could see where she was partly coming from. Most days he was irritable was the same day he had a nightmare, causing him to lose a lot of sleep. He thought he was managing it well, but not well enough. He didn't want her or anyone to find out the abuse he had to suffer through, he didn't want the pitying looks he knew they'd give him. However, being happy was surprising to him. Looking back he could recall certain times where he felt happy and even sociable. Just the other day he had spent most of his evening helping Neville with his homework. He wasn't sure where it came from, a lot of the time it felt natural, was this what Tonks had wanted him to do?

"Just have a lot of questions and not enough answers." Scarlet answered vaguely.

"Scarlet you know you can talk to me, right? Were friends, I know it's new to you, but it means being there for each other good or bad." Hermoine said kindly.

"Trust me I'm fine Hermoine." Scarlet said looking her in the eye. "Besides, if I do need help I'm sure Ron will be there to offer the emotional support I need."

Hermoine broke out in giggles at his joke. "Last time I spoke with Ronald over a serious topic, he was too busy thinking of Quidditch."

Scarlet soon joined in with her amusement, last year he didn't outwardly express his emotions like this, but it just felt right. He was about to add to her comment before a loud commotion was heard.

He looked over and both Slytherin and Gryffindor Quidditch teams standing off. It was like a western style muggle film, one team on each side squaring off. Only instead of pistols, they each were armed with brooms and wands, far more dangerous. Scarlet saw Hermoine stand up and walk quickly over, he generally stayed neutral when it came to the two houses rivalry, he just hoped he wasn't going to be roped into this argument.

XXX

In certain situations Scarlet would try very hard to stay composed and dignified in public, however just trying to keep himself from puking slugs out was taking all of his focus and effort. He didn't care if Potter and the idiot Weasley by each arm were dragging him, he just wanted to get to the medical hall and finally be free of the ginger prats spell.

"I'm so, so sorry Scarlet, I forgot my wand was broke." Weasley tried to apologize for his idiotic actions.

Scarlet responded by puking up a slug on the boy's shoes, he didn't even have time to enjoy the Weasley's cries as he could feel another one coming right out.

Scarlet was annoyed at himself, instead of staying away from the drama that was Gryffindor versus Slytherin, he walked right into it. He had tried to stay neutral in it, trying to see if both teams could compromise, but Malfoy unwilling to play nice had thrown the mudblood word at Hermoine, causing the redhead prat to pull out his wand. Scarlet wasn't sure why but he had pulled out his arm trying to make the redhead stop, only for the Ron to conjure the spell and have it blast him off his feet and back a couple feet. The nerve of the boys to originally try to bring him to see Hagrid. Scarlet didn't trust that oaf at all!

The group soon made it to the medical hall, Madam Pomfrey looked ready to scold them for making a loud entrance, but one look at Scarlet and she knew it was serious.

"Oh dear, what have you children gotten yourself into." She asked while guiding Scarlet to a nearby bed in the corner giving them some privacy.

Scarlet puked another slug onto the floor to answer her question.

"Why am I not surprise, why you children are fond of this spell I don't know why." Pomfrey muttered looking Scarlet over.

"Does this happen often?" Harry asked behind Pomfrey.

"Yes, yes, jinx and curses I can easily treat." She replied, going through her supplies for the right potion.

She lifted Scarlets head up and fed him the potion, making sure he finished it. In all honesty Scarlet didn't feel any different, the fact that another slug came up didn't quell his concerns.

"Who cast this spell?" Pomfrey asked she looked confused on why her potion wasn't doing anything.

Ron meekly took out his taped up wand and showed it to Pomfrey.

If it wasn't for the fact they were all very young children, Scarlet was sure Madam Pomfrey would be yelling out curses left and right for the pure stupidity of using a broken wand.

She quickly stepped out and grabbed a bucket and put it under Scarlet's head. "Here, a bit unconventional but you'll just to have to wait out the curse's effect. Until then I don't want you even putting a foot off this bed." She ordered.

"But the Halloween feast is tonight! Scarlet can't miss that" Ron yelled. A quick glare from Pomfrey made him shut up quickly.

Scarlet groaned at this development. Stuck in bed was one thing, throwing up slugs at random intervals double sucked, as Tonks would say.

Madam Pomfrey soon left to attend to her other patients, leaving the four of them in an awkward silence. Scarlet would be glaring at Weasley if he weren't feeling sick right now. Ron to his credit kept his eyes focused on the ground to afraid to look up, Hermoine was very quiet, had been since the bigotry word was thrown at her, Potter looked like he didn't know who to go to first to help. Luckily he made a quick decision to walk over to Hermoine.

"Are you alright Hermoine?" He asked quietly. Scarlet could only assume Harry had no idea the effect the term "mudblood" had in certain people.

"No, I'm not alright." She muttered as she started to shed a few tears. "I can't believe I let that vermin's words get to me."

"What exactly is a mudblood?" Harry asked.

"It means dirty blood." Ron spoke up, finally getting the courage to speak after his outburst. "Dad says some purebloods really look down on magic folk with nonmagic parents. Even going as far as to call them certain things like that word." He explained.

If it wasn't for the fact he was feeling sick and tired by his actions, Scarlet would be feeling really impressed by Ron's knowledge on purebloods. _'Guess he did learn a few things after all.'_

"That's ridiculous, a persons blood has nothing to do with who they are." Harry responded, shocked that people could think so closed minded.

"Its true, a lot of pureblood families are very old, and stuck on their point of views developed decades ago." Scarlet affirmed.

"Yeah, that's why everyone hates Slytherin, you got creeps like Malfoy, and everyone in there calling anyone who isn't them those words." Ron said.

The hypocrisy was very evident to Scarlet, yes Ron acknowledged most purebloods were very narrow-minded, but to then attack everyone in Slytherin like that didn't make him very different.

"That's not true." Scarlet disagreed. He had a few friends in Slytherin, even a couple acquaintances from Daphne's birthday party. "Not everyone in Slytherin is as narrow-minded as Lucious Malfoy, and even if they are like that, that's only because that's how they're raised." Scarlet defended.

Shade knew sooner or later the topic of Slytherin would come up in the group, last year any Gryffindor who would go on a rant about the green house, Scarlet would just ignore them. Now, he had actual friends in there, and he wouldn't just sit there and listen to the filth being spewed at them.

"How can you defend them? Look at Malfoy did to Hermoine!" Ron exclaimed pointing at their female friend.

"Yes, Malfoy did it, but he doesn't speak for everyone in Slytherin." Scarlet said he was trying very hard to hold back the anger growing. He wasn't sure why he was getting this upset, but Scarlet figured it was coming from the slugs that Ron caused him to vomit up.

"Enough!" A voice interrupted, causing both boys to look towards Harry. "Now's not the time for this." Potter indicated towards their fourth friend.

One look at Hermoine and Scarlet knew now was not the time for this talk, right now they all needed to support their friend.

"Hermoine just ignore him, you've shown time and time again, it's not where you come from that determines who you are, but what you do with the oppertunity." Scarlet spoke truthfully. Just looking at how hard Tonks, Jess, and Rebecca worked to get where they are showed that.

"Hermoine, you're the smartest witch I've ever met, without you who would I have to cop- I mean study with." Ron joined in.

Hermoine gave a small laugh at that comment; she seemed to be brightening up with their words of encouragement. "Thank you, I feel a lot better now." She stood up wiped her remaining tears, smiling at all three boys.

"Come on, let's go celebrate at the Great Hall for the feast." Ron said excitingly.

"Wait. What about Scarlet?" Hermoine pointed out.

As if on cue, Scarlet spat out another slug into his bucket. It seemed the rate in which they were coming out were slowing down. "I'll be fine, I need the sleep anyway." Scarlet muttered getting more comfortable in bed.

Harry and Ron nodded at him and started to walk off, Hermoine stayed a moment longer studying Scarlet trying to find what he was hiding. Scarlet in return just gave her a normal look hoping she wouldn't push anything. After a few moments, she gave him a small smile and started to walk away.

"I'll make sure the boys don't everything and save you something to eat." She said.

"That might be very difficult but anything would be nice." Scarlet chuckled; he soon was left alone with nothing but his thoughts, and a couple of slugs on the infirmary floor.

Scarlet gave a loud yawn, he wasn't kidding when he said he tired, whatever was in the potion was making him drowsy, and the lack of sleep from the nightmares was catching up on him. Figuring he wouldn't miss much, he closed his eyes and hoped he would have a nightmare free nap.

XXX

It wasn't often Harry saw the halls of Hogwarts empty, it strangely reminded him of last year, running down to find his friend while looking out for a troll. Considering what happened last year, if the worst was only Scarlet puking slugs this may be the first Halloween in a while that he might enjoy.

To everyone, Halloween was a joyous celebration with costumes and candies, but to him, it reminded him of his dead parents. Growing up he may not have known much about his parents, but his aunt and uncle did tell him early on that they died on that date. Each Halloween he would be locked in his "room" after his daily verbal abuse with his thoughts wondering if his parents were alive what they'd be doing, would he be dressed up in silly costumes? Would he be like Ron and talk endlessly about his favorite sweets?

Harry was broken out of his thoughts when he felt someone's eyes on him. He looked to his left and saw Hermoine looking at him. He gave a small smile at her and continued walking. He still felt her eyes still on him but knew she wouldn't push anything. It was obvious to him that she knew he was hiding something.

Of course, he was hiding something even though he had actually made two great friends, he didn't want to share the abuse he suffered through. Throughout his whole life, he wished he could leave his tiny little room, and make friends. But when he learned and discovered the magical world almost everyone looked at him like he was above them. It's what made him value his friendships with Hermoine and Ron. They didn't look at him differently or want something from him, they just wanted him.

Even Scarlet's friendship he enjoyed having, though the two weren't very close, he still treated him as if he wasn't this magical savior. There was something about Shade that peeked Harry's interest, he wasn't sure what it was, but there was something almost similar to him. Ignoring the cold front, the boy was exuding at the time, Harry still kept an eye and learned inside was a kind person and had the capacity to care about people. Along with that, there were similarities between the two of them. Both were quiet, withdrawn, and didn't care for attention. The difference being that he had Hermoine and Ron with him in Gryffindor, and Scarlet was alone. Though there was still work to be done, he felt Scarlet was slowly warming up to them, he just needed time. There was one thing that still nagged him, he felt this strange feeling towards Shade because of the similarities its why he had a good feeling he'd show up the night they went to the third floor.

' _Harry Potter'_

The sudden voice startled Harry, he looked around and didn't see anything. Ron was still talking to Hermoine about what he was going to eat up ahead. Just as he was about to think he was hearing things the voice spoke again.

' _Harry Potter.'_

Harry knew he heard the voice this time, but he didn't see anyone, soon Hermoine and Ron noticed he had stopped walking.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermoine asked walking back to him.

He just ignored her as he tried to find where the voice was coming from.

' _Harry Potter, I will kill you.'_

The voice sounded like it was coming from the wall, Harry started to put his palms all over the wall, trying to find the source. He started running along the wall as the voice just continued.

' _I will kill you.'_

Harry could hear Hermoine and Ron asking him what was wrong, but he couldn't stop focusing on the voice. It sounded old and raspy, he never heard a voice so bone-chilling in his life, it was starting to scare him.

' _Your life is almost over, I will kill you.'_

Harry wanted to get away as far as he could, but another part of him couldn't ignore it, he continued running along the walls as the voice got louder.

' _Kill.'_

Louder.

' _Kill!.'_

Louder.

' _KILL!'_

Harry stopped at the end of the hallway, he was panting heavily, whether it was from the running, or he was scared probably both. He looked down and noticed a puddle of water on the ground. He looked to his right and saw a group of spiders crawling out the window. _'What's going on?'_

Soon his two friends caught up, and both seem equally confused at what caused this.

"What's going on? Where did all this water come from? Ron is this one of your brother's foolish pranks?" Hermoine asked Ron.

However, Ron didn't respond, both Harry and Hermoine looked at him, his eyes were wide and he looked like he'd seen a ghost. Well, a scary ghost to be exact. Harry waved his hand in front of Ron's face several times but still got no reaction.

"Ron, what's wrong? Please tell us." Harry begged.

Instead of a verbal response, Weasley merely rose his hand pointing at something behind them. They both turned around, and Harry's stomach dropped. He heard Hermoine gasp in shock, he was too stunned to even say anything. Further down the hallway was a student. What made him unnerved was the fact the body was very still, and the eyes weren't blinking, then finally he found the reason for Ron's distress. The student had an all to familiar red hear. One of the Weasley twins were dead.

 **Authors Note: Welp. That's one way to come back after a few months hiatus. Just want to apologize for how long it took to upload this chapter,. First off I just finished my last semester at College, and for 4 months it was kicking my butt, had very little free time, add to the fact I wasn't writing for a period of time and it took me off my writing groove. But I want to thank you for the messages I received and I promise you I will finish this story. With the summer coming up I will have more time to write and should be able to upload more frequently. Hopefully, I can set up a schedule of one chapter per two weeks. My goal is to finish year 2 before the summer ends in Agust, so we'll see.**

 **In terms of story, I told you at the beginning things will be different, and this is a major reason why, the Heir of Slytherin has claimed its first victim, and it's just getting started. How will the group react? Well let's just say they'll receive help from an unlikely source, you'll see what I mean next chapter. Also see where I got the idea for my channel name. Thank you for reading and I will see you soon.**


	16. Chapter 16

Within the Shadows Chapter 4

 _He didn't know how long he'd been trapped here. Ever since all that ice appeared his daddy hadn't said anything to him, he just drove them home and shoved him down in the basement. There were no windows and he couldn't reach the light switch, not that he could even find it in pitch black. Scarlet had just found a corner and sat down, he didn't know for how long, it was already cold down here and he only wore summer clothing, but now he was starting to get hungry._

" _Daddy? I'm cold and hungry can I come out please?" Scarlet yelled, hoping he'd hear, but no response was given._

 _Scarlet wasn't sure what was wrong, when he got in trouble in the past his parents wouldn't give him desert until he apologized and said he'd never do it again. But his daddy didn't say what he did wrong! How could he apologize if he doesn't know what's wrong?_

 _A sound above Scarlet grabbed his attention, he could tell someone above him was walking, he listened closely and could hear the footsteps coming closer to him. Had his daddy finally come to get him? The door to the basement slowly opened up, Scarlet had to shield his eyes from the bright light enveloping him. Once his eyes adjusted to the light he saw not his daddy, but his mommy walking over to him._

 _Scarlet stood up in joy, his mommy would fix this, just like whenever he hurt himself, she'd always kiss it better. He ran over to her and wrapped his arms around he legs._

" _Hi mommy! I'm so happy you're here, I'm hungry and cold, can we go upstairs? I promise I didn't do anything wrong I pinky promise!" He rambled on, just excited to see her._

 _However, he quickly noticed his mommy was acting funny. Normally when he ran over to her she would pick him up and kiss him on the check, where was his kiss? He thought he was a good boy. Scarlet looked up and saw her just staring at him, she slowly grabbed his arms and unwrapped him from her. She crouched down and just kept staring at him. Scarlet wasn't sure what she was doing, her eyes just kept going up and down his body._

" _This can't be true." Scarlet heard her whisper._

" _Mommy what's wrong? I didn't do anything!" Scarlet was starting to get scared, he had no idea why his parents were acting so weird. He couldn't help but start to cry at his frustration._

" _Mommy?" He asked. No response._

" _Mommy?" Again, his mother just stared._

" _MOMMY!" Scarlet shouted, and he saw her mother pull her arms away quickly, she started to scream in anguish. Scarlet wasn't sure what happened, his mommy looked hurt, did it suddenly become colder in here? He walked closer to her to try and help. But that's when he saw it. The look of pure anger appeared, Scarlet-backed away he never saw something so scary in his life, his tears didn't stop. Before Scarlet could react, she reached over and slapped him, so hard that he lost his balance and landed face first on the carpet._

 _Scarlet groaned in pain, why would his mommy hit him? He lifted his head and looked over. He screamed when he saw the scary look walk over to him rearing her hand again._

" _Mommy, don't I'm sorry, I didn't do it please!" Scarlet cried before her hand hit him again._

XXX

Scarlet jolted awake, he could feel his heart beeping, his body completely covered in sweat, and his hands were shaking. Scarlet closed his eyes and started to take deep breaths, years of suffering through nightmares gave him experience on ways to cope. He found taking deep breaths helped calm him down quickly, however no matter how many years he'd dealt with the nightmares he still felt like a scared child every time he woke up from one.

After a few minutes Scarlet could feel his heartbeat start to slow down, and soon he wasn't shaking as much. _'Why are the nightmares happening now? I thought I was done with it years ago.'_

Before Scarlet could continue his train of thought he heard the doors in the infirmary burst open. The sheets around his hospital bed were drawn so he couldn't see who was coming in, but from the sounds, it was a fair group of people and they were in a hurry.

"Albus, who could've done this? To harm a student to this severity?" A voice he soon recognized as Professor McGonagall. Scarlet was immediately on alert, seemed like a student was injured, probably an accident from students eager to duel.

"It was obviously Potter and his ragtag group of troublemakers. They were the only ones at the scene, everyone else was at the Great Hall." A voice sneered, Scarlet could tell it was Snape.

"Enough Severus, I don't believe young mister Potter knows the magic to harm mister Weasley. To petrify a student takes a great deal of powerful magic, not something even a teacher can accomplish." The final voice seemed to belong to the headmaster.

Scarlet's mind was racing a mile a minute, he had so many questions. How did one of the Weasleys get hurt? What was petrifying? Most importantly why were Harry, Hermione, and Ron being accused of such thing?

"Albus, are you suggesting someone outside this castle has done this?" McGonagall asked she sounded concerned at the thought of something breaking into Hogwarts.

"I don't believe so Minerva, powerful wards have protected this castle for generations, even I would have great difficulty breaking said wards." Albus responded.

"What do we make of the message written in blood? The students all saw it, the entire school will know of it before nightfall." Snape asked.

Scarlet could hear the headmaster sigh at the potion masters question. "I think its best we focus on unpetrifying mister Weasley. I assure you the castle has been searched for years, and we have found no evidence to prove the whereabouts of the _Chamber of Secrets."_

Scarlet wasn't sure what to make of this "Chamber of Secrets", he really wished he didn't take a nap, seemed he missed quite a lot.

"Whomever this heir is has made a grave mistake." Albus said breaking Scarlets thought.

"How so Albus?" McGonagall asked.

"The heir has brought all our attention to the individual, this show of theatrics with the message written in blood has alerted the entire school to their presence. Whether the individual is conducting a prank or is the real heir we now know they're quite young." Albus concluded. Scarlet had to admit that was a very educated thought, he wasn't in his position for no reason after all. "Severus, Minerva?"

"Yes, Albus?" Both Heads of Houses asked.

"I'd like you to keep an eye on your students, whomever this heir is may be one of the students. I'll inform the other Heads of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw to do the same. It is imperative we don't let this issue linger throughout the year." Albus spoke calmly, but Scarlet could tell there was a slight worry in his voice.

Scarlet could soon hear the group walk out of the infirmary and soon leaving him alone with his thoughts. He wasn't sure what to make of all this, it almost sounded like he was still asleep and still dreaming. Chamber of Secrets? An heir? This sounded like a giant prank to him, but then he thought there was one way to prove its real.

He slowly got off his bed, his legs wobbled a bit, he was still weak from puking up slugs, and having little food to eat for hours. Scarlet finally found his footing, he walked over to the drapes and slowly pulled them back. The sight before him stunned him. There was no mistake, George Weasley was laying on the bed across from him, motionless. At first glance one would mistake him being dead, the body was laying on a weird angle, no movement of breathing, and most creepily his eyes were just wide open.

Scarlet slowly walked over, and the more he continued to look the more he wanted to try to wake up from this nightmare. But wait, he couldn't be dead? The professors had mentioned something of petrified, the clearly didn't use the term deceased. Scarlet wasn't sure, maybe he was naïve and trying to find any reason to explain George's state.

Eventually unable to keep looking, Scarlet, started to walk back, he pulled the drapes over and crawled into bed, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. The nightmares mixed with the sight of George Weasley were still racing through his head. _'What if this is what the elf was warning us about?'_

XXX

Scarlet was lucky Madam Pomfrey was an early riser, because Scarlet was too restless to sleep and was eager to find out what happened last night. She had barely let him leave before he started running back to the Gryffindor Tower, it didn't take him long to reach it, he quickly told the password and passed through the opened portrait.

He walked in and saw the people he wanted to see, he was initially surprised they were already up, but considering what had happened he doubted they got much sleep, just from the look of Ron's frazzled state he knew he'd been hit hard.

"Scarlet what are you doing here so early? We were going to get you in a few hours." Hermione was the one to speak noticing him.

"I heard what happened, um I'm sorry what happened to George Ron." Scarlet said a bit awkwardly, he had never been in this type of situation being isolated for most of his life. Do you pat the grieving person on the back, hug them?

If Ron heard what he said he didn't acknowledge it, his fists were curled, his face was red, and he had a pure look of anger on his face. Scarlet was a bit unsettled because it reminded him of the look his mother gave him in his nightmare last night.

"How much have you heard?" Harry asked from beside Ron.

"Bits and pieces, something about a secret chamber, and heir." Scarlet responded, sitting down on one of the chairs.

Harry and Hermione filled Scarlet in on what happened last night. The discovery of George Weasley, how they initially thought he was dead, to the writing on the wall threatening enemies of the heir. Scarlet wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Enemies of the heir? Nothing against Muggle-borns, but George is a pureblood wizard, how can he be an enemy? Unless of course one of his pranks is the cause, but that just reinforces that maybe it's a student." Scarlet said voicing his thoughts out loud.

"It was Malfoy!" Ron said gritting his teeth.

"He did seem to be the only one excited about this information, he said all the muggle-born are next." Harry chimed in.

"His families bloody dark! There's no one else that could've done this!" Ron started to get louder.

"Calm down, getting worked up over this isn't going to help George." Scarlet said trying to cool the redhead.

"What do you expect me to do? Malfoy did this!" Ron accused.

"Ronald. Sit. Down." A feminine voice command.

All three boys turned their attention to the only girl in the group and right now she looked very serious. Ron started to think more clearly as he followed what she. Hermoine seemed to be thinking to herself about what to do.

"As much as I dislike that boy, we don't have any proof it's him, we need that if we're going to prove he's behind this." Hermione said finally speaking.

"How can we he's in a different house? He'd find it suspicious if we started to suddenly follow him outside of class." Harry said.

"I don't have a plan yet, but it's a start." Hermione sighed.

"No point in discussing it now, let's just get through this day first, what happened is still very raw maybe some time will help us think clearly." Scarlet suggested standing up from his chair, "In the meantime, Hermione try to see if there's any mention of a chamber in the Hogwarts history book." He said walking towards the exit.

"Where are you going?" Hermoine asked.

"Sending a letter were going to need help and I just know the right person." Scarlet said somewhat vaguely. There was one person he knew he could count on to help in this situation, he just hopes she would be able to get here in time.

XXX

Even though they'd agreed to give it a day before resuming their plans on what to do, Scarlet could see the trio were still on edge. It was still only the second class and he wasn't sure if they'd make it until the end of the day. Hermione had no luck in finding any mention of the chamber, so Scarlet wasn't sure where'd they go from here.

They were currently in Binns history class that was shared with Slyhterin, which funny enough gave him some time on to think of a course of action, since the ghost was lecturing on yet another goblin war. _'If the history book didn't have any mention on it, then where can we find it. It's a supposed room in this school, so someone who's been here a long time may know, most of the teachers probably wont tell us even if they know, so who could tell us?'_

"Seems we a have a few minutes to spare, any questions?" Binns asked. No one really asked questions at the end of his lectures. Which came to surprise to him and the entire class when Scarlet suddenly raised his hand.

"Ah yes, Scarlet, what's your question." Binns asked him.

"Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets sir?" Scarlet asked. Upon asking he could hear the entire class muttering to themselves, seemed what happened last night was still on everyone's mind. He could see Daphne and Tracey suddenly look at him in interest.

"I meant on todays lecture." Binns said. When no one raised their hand to ask about the goblin war the class could hear the ghost sigh.

"Fine. I'll waste your time with a myth. This school was founded 1000 years ago, by 4 remarkable individuals. Helga Hufflepuff, Rewona Ravenclaw, Sir Godric Griffindor, and Salazar Slytherin. That's where you all got the names of your houses from. The idea of Hogwarts was to educate students with an affinity for magic, however as time went one, one individual's ideals started to come about." Binns informed. It was the first time Binns had talked in class that had the entire class's attention.

"Salazar Slytherin felt magic should only be taught to individuals from magic families, or purebloods, and that muggleborns had no place in Hogwarts." Scarlet started to get an idea on why Slytherin was the way it is, the house was built on principles based 1000 years ago, if there was something purebloods were proud of, it was that they followed tradition. Something muggleborns coming into this world may never understand. "This is where the myth beins. Unable to convince the others of his ideals, Salazar left the school, but not before building a secret room inside. A chamber so secretive that it was fortold than only his heir would be able to open it, and unleash something horrendous that all muggleborns inside this castle would die because of it." Scarlet could see Hermoine start to tense up at the tailend of Binns lecture, it was still a personal problem with her, and Scarlet was doubting it was just a myth.

"Now its only a myth, I assure you that Dumbledore ad past headmasters have searched the school and no such chamber exists, and no heir of Slytherin either. Now that I've explained what you wanted to now I expect you to submit a 6 inch parchment on what I talked about today." Binns finished, he soon left leaving a class room reeling with information.

Scarlet's mind was racing a mile a minute, if what Binns said was true then his group of four were no match for this heir. He knew the trio would no doubt try to get to the bottom of this, last year proved that, adding to the fact Ron was on a personal vengeance, they would try their best to find out who hurt Geroge. If there anyway to survive this threat they were going to need help. Scarlet looked over to Daphne and Tracey. _'If what we're facing is the heir of Slytherin, then I'm going to need two snakes of my own to even the odds.'_

XXX

There was nothing but silence in the classroom. Scarlet arranged for them to meet up in an empty classroom, from the looks of it hadn't been used in years. Upon the trio arriving Scarlet hadn't moved from his spot on the desk and they just found a few chairs to sit in, clearly Scarlet was waiting for something.

In truth Scarlet was very nervous about this meeting, he knew this was necessary but getting this to work would take a lot of effort. Eventually, he and the rest of the golden trio heard footsteps outside the door. The door opened and out stepped two people Scarlet knew would be able to help them. Daphne and Tracey.

"I know my reputation is muddled every time I'm seen in public with you Scarlet, but could you have at least picked a room with only one cobwebs." Daphne said trying to avoid getting dirt on her robes.

"Glad you both could make it." Scarlet said walking over to them both.

"What are they doing here!" Ron yelled.

"Ronald! We're not supposed to be here keep it down." Hermione said calming her friend. Ron nodded at what she said but still continued to glare at the two snakes. "Scarlet, I'd like to know to why they're here." She asked.

Daphne didn't look impressed at the anger directed at her, she just turned back to Scarlet. "As much as I'd hate to agree with _her_ , why did you ask us to come down here."

Scarlet looked at both sides with him in the middle. Daphne, Tracey, this is Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and you both know Harry Potter. Guys this is Daphne Greengrass, and Tracey Davis. My friends." Scarlet introduced.

Of course, no side bothered to shake hands or even nod, there was a rivalry between their two houses, which Gryffindor winning the cup right from under Slytherin last year didn't help.

"I know there's a petty rivalry between our two house, but I'm asking you to put it aside until I finish talking." Scarlet asked. He could see Hermione and Tracey agree quickly, after a few moments Daphne and Harry both nodded, after a minute Ron finally agreed but made sure to stay away from the two Slytherin girls.

They settled in the front of the class, Gryffindor on one side, and Slytherin on the other.

"I'm going, to put it bluntly, were in trouble." Scarlet announced. To his credit, they all stayed silent, whether out of respect, or disbelief. "Last night I heard Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape discussing what happened last night, and it sounded to me it was more than a myth. In fact, it sounded like it happened before."

"But Binns said the chamber has never been found, surely Dumbledore would've found it." Harry said.

"They said the same thing, but they sounded confident it existed." Scarlet responded.

"I hate to be rude, but why are Daphne and I here? You four seemed to save the world on your own last year." Tracey butted in.

"Whomever this person is, they're Salazar Slytherins heir, so it's only fitting their in the green house." Scarlet explained.

"That's the only reason why?" Tracey asked a bit saddened.

"It helps having someone in that house, but the main reason is that last year we four got lucky."

"Hey! We stopped Quirrel from getting the stone!" Ron said suddenly. Then widen his eyes at revealing secretive information.

"Oh relax Weasley, Scarlet already told us everything that happened last year." Daphne muttered not even caring.

"You told them? They're a part of Slytherin, the house that petrified my brother!" Ron seemed to losing more and more control. As much as his bias towards the green house irritated him, he couldn't blame this level of anger, someone from Slytherin had targeted his family.

"I know Ron, but we were lucky last year, if it weren't for Harry's protective magic Quirrel would've killed all of us and gotten away with the stone. If I know you three this is something you won't drop, and if I'm getting roped in to this then were going to do this right! That means no secrets." Scarlet looked at Harry and Ron. "I trust Daphne and Tracey just as much as you three, and having 6 minds on this, two of which are in Slytherin will give us the best chance at solving who hurt your brother." Scarlet finally finished, he was a little surprised he'd spoke as confident and passionately as he did, but he needed to get his point across.

Daphne and Trace seemed to be whispering to one another, Hermione and Harry seemed to be thinking it over, and Ron looked ready to argue bringing the two girls in.

"I'm in." Daphne was the first one to speak. "If someone is besmirching the great name of Slytherin then I'll make sure they pay for that transgression."

"What Daphne also means is that were friends, and of course we'd help you." Tracey added in.

"We don't need your help." Ron said.

"We need their help Ronald." Hermione spoke.

Everyone's eyes were on the brunette, it must've been the first thing she's said since the two girls walked in.

"But Hermione they.."

"Hermoines right Ron." Harry interrupted. "What Scarlets said make sense, if it wasn't for my mother's blood magic I wouldn't be sitting here. If last year proved anything is that we need help and having two people who Scarlet trusts can only help us." Harry looked Ron right in the eye. "We asked Scarlet to trust us back at King Cross Station, now he's asking we trust him."

Ron seemed to mulling over what Harry had said, Scarlet could see the internal struggle going on in the red head, he just hoped Rons prejudice views of Slytherin wouldn't blind him to leave. "Okay, their in." Ron eventually said but he sounded so defeated.

"Well said Potter, admitting you need our help. Maybe Snape was wrong on how big your ego is." Daphne drwaled.

"You'll find out Snape iswrong about a lot of things about me." Harry responded, even though they'd proven Snape wasn't the one trying to kill Harry in Quidtich Harry still wasn't warm to the idea of Snape, but that's an issue for another time.

"I suggest we meet back here in a few days, after Harrys quiditich match." Scarlet suggested.

"Not a bad idea, but there's still one thing we need to do before we all leave." Hermoine pointed out. "I'd imagine it be awfully suspicious if all 6 of us were suddenly talking to one another in the library for example, we need something so that we can let the other know we have to talk to them in private without arousing suspicion."

"Like a code word?" Ron asked.

"Yes, maybe a name to call us, so it doesn't get mixed up with a common phrase or term." Hermoine said.

"Anyone have a suggestion on what to call us?" Scarlet asked, he wasn't very creative when it came to names.

"How about Dumbledores Army?" Harry suggested. "We're doing this to help the school and Dumbledore."

"I'd rather not be a part of something associated with him." Daphne argued.

"Well, you're not throwing any ideas around." Hermione rebutted.

Daphne seemed to think for a moment, before a smirk came over her face. "Since this is a coalition between Gryffindor and Slytherin led by Shade, how about we name this group Shadow Alliance. You'll find its much better than S.P.E.W." Daphne suggested.

Scarlet couldn't help but smirk at Greengrass's idea. With Shadow being another word for Shade. Him and Daphne shared a glance all but confirming his thoughts.

Hermione seemed a bit annoyed at the personal insult at her S.P.E.W idea. In truth Scarlet had to agree, S.P.E.W was a terrible name. It stood for Society for Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Since their first chat about house elves, Hermione had been on q crusade to _save_ them from their captives. Scarlet had repeatedly told her that elves were more than happy to serve families, and that without a connection to said family they'd suffer. However, the muggle-born in her saw it as very wrong and had spread word about her group.

Hermione looked very annoyed at Daphne's remark and was about to argue against it.

"How dare yo-"

"It sounds cool." A voice said interrupting Hermione.

Everyone looked over and saw it was Ron that had said it. Everyone was caught off guard by it, since Daphne and Tracey walked in Ron had been against everything this entire meeting, maybe there was hope yet?

"I think Shadow Alliance is a fitting name. Don't you agree Hermione?" Harry asked. He shared a look with Potter, both agreeing to stop their friend from another rant about house elves.

"Um, yes I think that's a fitting name." Hermione struggled to get out.

Before anyone could say anything the door to the classroom burst opened.

"Whats going on in here?" An older student said at the doorway.

"Percy? What are you doing here?" Ron asked getting up from his chair.

"As prefect its my duties to roam the halls making sure no students are getting into trouble." Percy replied walking inside.

Scarlet hadn't interacted with the older student before, last year when he'd associated with Slytherin him and most of the other prefects didn't bother interacting with him. From what he'd heard Percy was the opposite of Ron, Fred, and Geroge. Where the three liked to have fun and break the rules, Percy strived on perfection, working hard, and dedication to his studies. In the first year Scarlet could've seen himself enjoying his company, the studious nature would've matched with what he wanted in companion ship, but after forming relations with Tonks, and the Weasley twins, he found Percy….boring.

"Percy were not doing anything, were fine." Ron grumbled. The redhead was clearly embarrassed by his older brother.

"If you've forgotten, our brother was petrified not too long ago, its dangerous for young children to be left alone. Now please exit the room and go back to your common rooms." Percy ordered.

The way Percy referred to them really rubbed Shade the wrong way, it had been awhile he'd been talked down to like that, and he didn't appreciate it. He looked over and saw most of them felt the same way. Daphne and Tracey were able to keep a neutral expression, Harry and Hermoine seemed uncomfortable, however, Ron looked ready to burst.

Soon all six walked out of the classroom followed by the older Gryffindor student. Scarlet nodded his head towards the two Slytherin confirming what was said, and soon all of them went in different directions going back towards their common room.

XXX

Scarlet was running late, today was an early match between Gryffindor and Slytherin in a game of Quiditch. From the lack of sleep due to the nightmares, he'd been sleeping in more often. On normal days he didn't care about going to any games, but Harry had asked him to come as support, and he'd promise he'd show up.

He was such in a hurry that he accidently bumped into someone rounding the corner. Before Shade could fall back he felt two hands grab and steady him. He looked up and saw Professor Lockhart.

"Sorry professor." Scarlet apologized.

"Why the hurry? My class isn't today so you're not missing anything exciting." Lockhart joked.

"Its Quiditch today, I overslept and trying to get to the stand quickly." Scarlet answered.

"Ah yes, you know I used to play Quiditch, was the star of my team. Could've gone professional, but there were a lot of dark wizards that needed to put away by yours truly." Lockhard responded, before letting out a loud yawn.

"Seems like I'm not the only one having sleeping trouble." Scarlet joked. It sometimes surprised him how much difference a year makes, he was enjoying conversations with every one of his professors.

"Yes, yes, grading papers isn't as easy as it looks, takes up a lot of time." The man answered, once again yawning.

"Why don't you join me for Quiditch, think the exhilarating rivalry between the red and green houses should wake us up." Scarlet offered.

"Excellent idea, lets go!"

It didn't take long before him and Lockhart arrived at the stand, Hermoine and Ron had saved him seats, though they were quite surprised on the company he'd brought. Hermoine was delighted in watching the game with Lockhart, while Ron just stayed focused on the match.

The match started strong in the beginning, it was clear that the two houses showed no love for one another, so it wasn't surprising when both sides started to roughen each other up. When Madam Hooch wasn't looking a shove would happen, or a stray elbow was let loose, it was becoming nasty very quickly. But for all what was going on, it wasn't surprising that only one person wasn't engaging in the rough housing.

Poor Fred Weasley, since he'd learned about his brother being petrified he'd become a shell of his former self. Scarlet was so used to seeing a smile on his face every day, only to now see him grieving, no smile, no jokes, not even a prank. It's like Hogwarts lost both brothers for the price of one, Scarlet was surprised he didn't leave the Quidditch team.

"Gryffindors beaters aren't working well together, unless young Harry catches the snitch this match is over." Lockhart commentated beside him.

Scarlet could see both his friends tense up at the comment, as much as he enjoyed his teachings Lockhart had a lot of faults.

"That's because one of the beaters brother got petrified." Scarlet mumbled.

"Oh, um my apologizes Ron, I'm sure George will be fine in no time. Darn shame, if I was there I would've been able to save him." Lockhart said, the man seemed a bit embarrassed and was trying to save face.

Scarlet just focused on the match from that point, and from the looks of things it looked like it would be a entertaining game.

XXX

Currently, he was two for two when it came to unusual Quiditch matches. Around half way through the match, their group had started to notice the bludgger following Harry. Everyone in the Gryffindor stand found it odd at first and then became concerned the longer it went on. Due to the distance between them and Harry, there wasn't anything they could do, the complete opposite from last year.

It wasn't until the match was won were they able to handle the situation, mainly in part to Hermoine's arsenal of spells. Harry had sustained a broken arm due to being hit by the bludgger, the Gryffindor team plus Hermoine and Ron carried him off to the Infrimary. Lockhart had disappeared some time after the match without saying a word.

In certain circumstances Scarlet would've followed the group to the infirmary, however, he found himself in dungeons of Hogwarts. Throughout the entire walk, he had tried to come up with solutions to what had caused the bludgger to act abnormal, but nothing came to mind. He figured if he couldn't figure it out there was one person in particular who may have an idea.

Scarlet knocked on the door and waited for a response, he heard a murmur to come in and he slowly opened the door and walked inside. It felt like déjà vu, just last year around the same time he was visiting Snape in his office after a Quiditch match.

"Why am I not surprised you're here." Snape drawled not even bothering taking his eyes off the papers on his desk.

"Nothing gets by you professor." Scarlet joked. Snape was very good at keeping his reactions neutral, but there would always be the smallest of twitches. In this case, the potion masters left eye narrowed just slightly indicating he had heard Scarlets comment and was not amused.

"I assure you flattery will get you nothing but detentions, now make your point Shade or else I'll deduct points for wasting my time." Snape said finally taking his eyes of the papers and staring directly at him.

"It's obvious to most people that the bludger was jinxed." Scarlet said getting right to the point. "I doubt it was you, however even after two years I'm still limited in my knowledge of magic, and don't know who's capable of performing that type of magic."

"Surprised your know-it-all-friend miss Granger doesn't know the culprit already, since her and naïve lions quickly deduced I was the perpetrator last year." Snape drawled.

"It would be stupid of me to think a 13 year old would know everything." Scarlet responded. "That's why I came here to someone who is much more knowledgeable on the subject."

"Indeed it would be foolish of you, but regardless of your house you don't give me the impression that you are." Snape got up and walked around him. "I'll give you my opinion but it will do little in your search, jinxing the bludger isn't very strong magic, a fifth year or higher would be able to do so….or even a professor." Snape muttered the last part.

"Do you believe that there's a connection between this incident and this supposed heir?" Scarlet asked.

Snape stopped right in front of Scarlet and seemed to think for a couple moments, as if on cue Scarlet started to feel a slight tingle going on his head, he didn't know why it was going on when he was talking to some of his professors, he was starting to get suspicious of it.

"To the best of my knowledge no, now get out of my office." Snape suddenly snapped..

Scarlet didn't bother loitering and quickly walked out of the classroom. He was really confused about the potion masters change in damener, but right now he had more pressing issues to deal with.

XXX

It was an odd sight for anyone walking by. Fred Weasley was the walking the halls of Hogwarts by himself and had a frown on his face. Him and his twin were often laughing, smiling, and joking with each other every day. If there was anyone that needed a good laugh they were the Gryffindors to do it, but right now Fred looked miserable.

Since his twin was petrified Fred felt lost. If you don't have a twin then you wouldn't understand the connection these boys shared, they were together for all of their life and hadn't been away from one another longer than a few days. It was like a piece of him had been petrified along with George. It was a miracle that George was only petrified and not actually dead, he didn't know how we would survive without him, or vice versa.

Fred let out another sigh, normally he and George would be celebrating along with the team after every match but after making sure Harry was in good hands in the infirmary he just left to be by himself. It was a surprise they even won considering his heart wasn't in the game, despite the circumstances he did give it his best, but without his partner, he didn't have the energy to compete.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice a small girl until she was directly infront of him, once he finally noticed her, he instantly recognized her.

"Ginny? What are you doing here this late on your own?" He asked.

Ginny along with him seemed to have been deep in thought, he noticed his question surprised her. "Oh, Im uh uh, thinking!" Ginny sounded so unsure.

"Thinking?" Fred repeated.

"Yeah, its been hectic the past few days." Ginny answered, Fred, noticed she seemed to be distracted, almost as if he walked in on her doing something.

"I know, since our brothers been petrified its been tense." Fred agreed.

Ginny nodded at what he said, but he couldn't help but feel something was off about her, she was normally so cheery and talkative back home, of course coming to Hogwarts there was a bit of adjustment, but once she had made friends she was back to her usual self.

"You know you can talk to me if you have something on your mind, I can't imagine its been easy on you." Fred knelt down to her level.

"It's fine, just tough." Ginny answered shortly.

"I know, I miss him too, but walking alone at night wont help, why don't we go back to out rooms?" Fred offered standing back up.

Ginny formed a smile which didn't reach her eyes, but nodded to his suggestion and started to walk back. Fred started to walk with her when he noticed something fell out of his pocket and start to roll down the hallway.

"Shoot! Ginny keep going, I'll catch up with you quickly." Fred hollered running after his object.

The item stopped rolling after a couple of feet and Fred managed to pick up the trinket. It was the same thing George had on him the night he was petrified. He had held onto to it ever since, he didn't have it in him to let it go.

He broken from his musings when he heard a sound, he quickly turned around and saw nothing, he noticed that he must've been thinking for a while as he couldn't see Ginny down the hall. A sound right behind him made him turn around quickly, but there was nothing there. _'What in blimey heck is going on?'_ He thought worriedly. Fred could hear something moving around him but every time he looked in a different direction there was nothing. He started to get nervous, he'd never experienced anything like this before.

Eventually, all the lighted candles were extinguished leaving him in darkness, he quickly fumbled for his wand casting lumos, he could barely see anything anymore even with his light. The sound only got louder, he was about to run when he felt something slither on his back, and then a small screech was emitted above him. Fred gulped in fear as he knew something was right ontop of him. He didn't have the courage to look up and just looked down, he saw the reflection of something on the ball he was holding, and knew this must've been what happened to George. _'At least we'll be together soon brother.'_ Were his last thoughts before everything went blank.

 **Authors Notes: A bit longer than expected but chapter ended up taking more time than I thought. To all my current and new followers thanking you for being patient, I promise its only going to get better from here on end.**

 **Now both brothers are petrified, clearly, the Weasleys are being targeted, but why? Who would want to hurt a pureblood family?**

 **Yes, the group have named themselves the Shadow Alliance, that's the reason on how I came up with my name, and it'll be the name of their group for the next few years, but just because they're working together doesn't mean it'll go smoothly. Ron clearly doesn't trust Greengrass and Davis and finding about Fred's fate certainly won't help, Daphne has a clear disdain for Hermione (That'll come to head sometime this year), and Scarlets dealing with nightmares of his childhood, how can they defeat the Heir of Slytherin, when they're already feating eachother with their issues? One way to find out.**

 **PS Also I feel very stupid right now, I didn't notice that I had been misspelling Hermione's name the entire time, going to go back and make that edit and fix up some grammar.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: All the characters and the world of Harry's Potter is owned by JK Rowling.**

Within the Shadows Chapter 5

Scarlet always prided himself on his intelligence, since learning of magic he'd spent every day researching on anything he can. The idea was fuelled by every student in his year wanting to study with him. However, right now for the first time in a while, he didn't have an answer.

The discovery of Fred Weasley's petrified body sent panic throughout the school, especially in Gryffindor house. Ron hadn't said a word and raced to the infirmary almost as if he didn't truly believe it until he saw it himself. Harry had followed quickly and Hermione had dragged him also, for emotional support she told him, but he wasn't much for cheering people up.

Upon reaching the infirmary and confirming the rumors Ron had stopped functioning, he sat down on a close by the chair and stayed there, not moving, not saying anything, and most surprisingly not eating.

There had been an awkward silence since then, and after a few minutes, Scarlet was starting to get agitated. Today had been the first time he'd been able to sleep peacefully and was now ruined because of this, add to the fact he had to sit here and do nothing when he could be out planning the Shadow Alliances next move with Daphne and Tracey only further agitated him.

He looked over and noticed Hermione giving him a sour look, she clearly was able to read what he was thinking based on his posture, he looked away no caring for her look. It wasn't that he was insensitive to the redhead's pain, but he just felt so out of place, he had no idea what to do in these types of situations.

It wasn't long before the silence was interrupted by the door suddenly swinging open and standing by the front entrance was Molly Weasley. Scarlet had to take a second look because there was such a contract between the first time he saw her in the bookstore in Diagon Alley and now. Back in the summer, she looked like such a sweet lady, with a huge smile on her face as she talked to her family, now she looked pale, and any signs of a smile were gone, and replaced with a frown.

Molly rushed over to Ron and hugged him tightly. Ron seemed to finally break out of his shell started to cry and hugged his mother back tightly. Both seemed afraid to let go in fear of losing another member of their family. Scarlet couldn't imagine what they must've been feeling, he had no family, yes he had connections, but nothing on the same level the Weasleys had for each other.

"Shh, shh, its okay Ron, I'm here." Molly soothed, she rocked Ron back and forth trying to calm him down.

Scarlet stepped back to give them some privacy, he looked over and saw Hermione do the same. Surprisingly Harry didn't move back either, he was about to say something to him when he noticed he wasn't just staring but seemed in thought while looking at the Weasleys. He wasn't sure that emotions were going through the boy's mind, it looked almost like jealousy? _'No just overthinking it.'_ Scarlet shook his head at the thought and just stayed quiet.

Eventually, Ron's tears started to stop and he finally let go. "I'm happy you're here. We need to see Ginny and Percy and tell them your here." Ron seemed to remember his other two siblings.

"I already talked to Percy, he's talking to Ginny right now, they'll be down here in a few minutes." Molly answered.

"It's nice to see you again misses Weasley, I just wish it was under better circumstances." Hermione stepped in. "I'm sorry what happened to your sons."

"Nice to see you dear." Molly smiled at the brunette, but everyone noticed her smile didn't quite meet her eyes. "Harry glad to see you are doing well too."

"Mom, why is this happening." Ron asked.

"I'm afraid that's a difficult question to answer." Dumbledore answered, surprising everyone to his presence in the room.

"Albus, why are my children being targeted, they played annoying pranks, but everyone loved them." Molly asked pleadingly.

"Not everyone." Ron muttered, only Hermione, Harry, and himself heard that.

"I don't know Molly, whoever has done this, has quite the vendetta against your family. I assure you myself and the rest of the staff are working tirelessly to find the culprit." The Headmaster reassured, he put a hand on Misses Weasley's shoulder.

"I think it may be best if I pull my children out of Hogwarts until this is ver-" Molly said.

"No!" Ron yelled. "You can't take us out of Hogwarts!"

Molly sighed at Ron's outburst. "Ronald, it's a mothers duty to protect her children, I've already lost two, I don't know how I could handle another one of you getting petrified."

"Please mom, I've waited so long to come here, don't take me out!" Ron pleaded.

"Ron I ha-"

"Molly if I may." Dumbledore interrupted. "Your eldest son Percy is starting his OWL's this year, young Ginny is just starting her first year, if you pull them out of school now it may damage their education at Hogwarts."

"I care more about their safety than their education Dumbledore." Molly rebutted.

"They may see differently, Molly. I know Percy has taken his role of prefect to the utmost importance, and young Ginny Weasley has just now formed social circles in her year." Dumbledore answered.

She was about to argue again when Ron pulled at her sleeve.

"Mum, please don't take us out, I've always wanted to go to Hogwarts I've watched Bill and Charlie go through it, it's been my dream for so long to be here." Ron pleaded.

Molly had a conflicted look on her face, she wanted what was best for her children, but to see how devastated they would be if she pulled them out of school. She would've continued to be conflicted if it weren't for Dumbledore.

"Molly I assure you were doing everything in our power to find the culprit, and soon professor Sprouts Mandrakes will be able to unpetrify your two boys." Dumbledore assured.

"We'll help as well." Harry joined in. "Ron's our friend too, we can help him and Ginny so they'll be safe."

Scarlet could see the defeated look on Ms. Weasley's face. "Alright, you can stay." Molly said defeatedly. "However, I want you, Ginny, and Percy to come home for Christmas, no excuses."

Ron nodded his head eagerly and hugged his mom again. Both Harry and Hermione sighed in relief that their friend would be staying at Hogwarts despite the circumstances.

Scarlet felt he'd overstayed on this private moment and stepped out quietly out of the infirmary. It wasn't long when he heard footsteps behind him, he looked behind and saw Hermione walking close behind.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Was thinking of going over a plan with Daphne and Tracey, your welcome to join us." Scarlet offered.

"Sure, that's the point of forming the alliance, so that we all can work together. Though some are more stubborn than others." She muttered the last part.

"Ron needs to realize that this rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin is ridiculous." Scarlet said absentmindedly not realizing Hermione wasn't referring to the redhead.

"I'm not talking about Ronald." Hermione said quietly.

Scarlet paused mid-step and looked at the brunette, he was confused about who she was referring too. "Then who?" he asked.

"Boys" Hermione muttered. "I'm talking about Greengrass."

"She easily agreed to this alliance, what are you talking about?" Scarlet was confused on where this was coming from.

"Yes, she agreed to work with us. However, I can't help but feel there's friction between her and I." Hermione stated.

Scarlet started to get a better idea of where she was coming from, he'd noticed small signs Daphne wasn't a fan of Hermione, though he wasn't sure why, and didn't bother asking something that was none of his business.

"If your worried its because she's a pureblood, and you're a Muggle-born, I can tell you now she isn't like Malfoy and his henchmen." Scarlet reassured.

"Are you sure?" she asked quickly. "I know she's your friend, but your also a pureblood."

"I'm sure, I've spent enough time with her to know she doesn't discriminate." After visiting Daphne during the summer a few times and interacting with her family, he knew they weren't bigots.

"Thank you, I'll try to look past the meeting and truly work with her." Hermione said happily.

"That's good, you two are the smartest witches I know, putting you two together there's nothing that can stop us." Scarlet joked.

"Well, luckily we have six minds on the case."

"Should be five right now, can't believe Ron stayed here when his family is clearly being targeted." Scarlet shook his head at the redhead. He could understand wanting to stop whoever is hurting his family, but he'd be safer back home.

"Ron wants to find out who petrified his brother, he wants to help stop this heir." Hermione answered.

"Won't be much help with a broken wand, even if it was while I don't see what he adds to our group." Scarlet's opinion on Ron still hadn't changed much from last year. He still identified him as Harry's bumbling sidekick.

"Don't count Ronald out so easily, he was instrumental in helping us reach the Philosophers stone." Hermione quickly defended.

"Really?" Scarlet asked in disbelief.

"Yes." She stated, she soon got a sad look on her face and looked down. "After we left you to deal with the troll, we came across another room. It was a giant chess board we had to become some of the pieces and in order to proceed, you had to win the match. We were very close and was one move away, but we needed to sacrifice one of our pieces to win." He could see a few tears start to come down her face. "Ron sacrificed himself so that we could move on. Without him, we'd never have reached the stone and stopped Quirrel.

Scarlet was surprised to hear this, he'd heard a broad story of what happened after they separated that night but this was the first time he'd heard the details. He was impressed that Ron was able to sacrifice himself for the group, maybe he'd underestimated the boy after all?

"I know you've only seen one side of him, but don't count him out." Hermione said wiping her tears away.

"Alright, I'll give him a fair chance to help. But he's going to need a new wand."

"Thank you Scarlet, now come on its best not to keep a lady waiting, especially two." She joked.

''You've been spending too much time with Tonks." Scarlet said shaking his head.

XXX

The crowd was buzzing with excitement, today would be the first day of Hogwarts new dueling club. Since the two attacks, the professors had felt it was best to help arm the students with the tools to defend himself.

Scarlet was very eager for the club, a chance to learn new spells would definitely come in handy. It would also help him gauge his progress compared to everyone in his year.

He looked over and saw the Hermione was excited as well, though every witch was excited because it was going to be taught by Lockhart. He looked over and saw Bones squealing in delight with her friends about it. However, it seemed the same could not be said for the boys as a lot of them seemed disinterested in learning anything from the man. Though he couldn't blame Harry and Ron for it, Snape was also to be present and the man had no issues with making things difficult for Harry and Ron.

The Great Hall was soon filled and a hush silence filled the room as their two professors walked onto the stage.

"Gather around!" Lockhart shouted walking onto the platform, gathering everyone's attention. Snape followed a couple of feet behind him. "Can everyone see me?" He asked. Everyone nodded at his question. "Good! Enlight of the truly dark events plaguing our school, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all up, in case you ever need to defend yourselves. As I myself have done numerous times over my long travels, for further details see my published work." He finished flashing his signature smile and wink to everyone.

Scarlet could see the man was doing well at holding everyone's attention, Lockhart had a certain aura about him that could make people listen. _'Good thing he isn't the heir, or else he'd have us all charmed by then'_ he joked to himself.

"Now as everyone knows I'll be running this club, however, I won't be the only one here to help you all, professor Snape has graciously accepted the role of my assistant," Lockhart announced pointing his hand in the direction of the potions master.

Harry and Ron chuckled at the announcement. At first glance, one would mistake a look of indifference on their potions teacher face. However, both Ron and Harry have looked into his face enough times to know the small signs of emotion, in this case, they knew he was very annoyed to be here right now, and that only further increased their quiet laughter.

"Now originally the plan was having a special match between myself and your favorite teacher." Lockhart paused to yawn "However, late nights of grading your papers have let me a bit fatigued, and the point of this club is for you to learn the necessary skills to defend yourself. It would do no good to watch a tired wizard duel, you wouldn't learn anything!" He started to pace back and forth along the stage. "That is why, we have decided to call upon you to duel one another, to watch your housemates duel, learn from their techniques from a fellow peer. Upon each duel, myself and Snape will critique you, on what you did wrong, and how you can improve on them. Don't you agree Severus?" Lockhart finished pointing the spotlight and his _assistant_.

"Don't get your hopes up Lockhart, I doubt most will be able to put a …average effort today." Snape said leering at the group of Gryffindors.

"Yes, yes, we shall see, wont we? Zabini, Bones, you first." Lockhart pointed at the two students, and both walked over.

Scarlet saw Snape give a silent nod toward the Slytherin second year, clearly, house pride was on the line, and Snape wouldn't stand to be embarrassed by a girly Hufflepuff. Susan looked very nervous to be standing up there, not only to be the first one to compete but against someone from Slytherin, she looked ready to fall over.

"Begin!" Lockhart announced signaling the start of the first duel.

"Tarantallegra!" Susan said shakenly, she performed the correct incantation and hurled a dancing feet charm at Blaise.

The boy just barely jumped out of the way of the spell. "Flipendo!" He responded by sending the knock-back jinx at Bones. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't as quick to dodge was knocked off her feet a couple feet back, her dropped wand signaling her defeat.

"Well done excellent duel, don't you agree Severus?" Lockhart asked.

"Excellent performance Zabini, but next time don't let your opponent make the first move, end the duel swiftly, and promptly. Three points to Slytherin." Snape said.

"Now onto the next match, Finnigan your turn." Lockhart selected next.

"Crabbe." Snape selected.

That's how the next few matches went, Lockhart would select a random student and Snape would pick one of his own snakes. The majority of duels were won by the green house, and Snape seemed delighted in showcasing how superior his house was.

"Hmm, how about miss Granger, would you please step forward." Lockhart chose.

Scarlet gave his friend a reassuring nod, Harry gave her a thumbs up, while Ron told her she'd do well. That helped calm their bushy-haired friend as she walked onto the stage.

Scarlet looked over and saw Snape staring at them, he wasn't sure what the man was thinking but he knew it wouldn't be good for Hermione.

"Greengrass." Snape said.

The blonde Slytherin formed a smirk on her lips at being _randomly_ selected. Scarlet knew this choice was made on purpose. Both Daphne and Hermione had been the top students, add to the fact there was an unknown friction between them didn't help at all. Snape knew this and was using this as an opportunity to finally settle this once and for all.

Scarlet felt torn on who he wanted to win, Hermione was fighting to show everyone, purebloods most especially that she belonged here. Daphne, on the other hand, was fighting for the respect of her house. _'And so much more'_ Scarlet thought to himself.

He saw there was no love between the two of them, despite both being in the Shadow Alliance, and his talk with Granger both seemed ready to hurt one another.

"Begin!"

"Diffindo!" Greengrass shouted making the first move, she sent the severing charm at Hermione.

Hermione ducked out of the way, but not before part of her robe got caught and severed by the spell. She narrowed her eyes. "Immobulus!" She shouted quickly, the spell worked as it covered a large area, meaning Daphne couldn't dodge and was no rendered immobile. Hermione smiled as her spell worked and followed it up with another. "Flipendo!" she shouted, the spell knocked Daphne back and she landed hard on her back, but unfortunately the immobulus spell ensured that she had a firm grip on her wand and was still able to fight.

Daphne narrowed her eyes as she got up, clearly, she had a been caught off guard, Scarlet knew she wouldn't make that mistake again. Hermione had sent over another jinx but Daphne easily moved out of the way, she wouldn't be duped again. She shot off consecutive jinxes at Hermione, she managed to dodge them but she was being pushed back and on the defensive unable to properly counterattack.

Eventually one made it through and Hermione was hit landing on the ground, she saw another one heading her way and she rolled to the side. The portion of the stage hit was sizzling, she uttered the counter-charm and stood up narrowing her eyes. The smug look on Greengrass's face told her she knew the full impact of the last spell.

She fired off a spell to her left, and quickly another to her right, her plan worked as Daphne had dodged the first one very easily but didn't anticipate the second one coming to where she had just moved, suddenly her legs started to have a mind of their own and start dancing.

That caused most of the students to giggle at the display, that only infuriated Greengrass more as she used the counter charm to stop it.

Both girls looked at each other, wands firmly ready, they both shot a spell continuing the duel.

"Bloody hell." Ron muttered, amazed at the duel. Harry seemed just as entranced by it, he'd never seen his friend show that much fight before.

Scarlet, on the other hand, was very worried, this was getting out of hand, and would lead to one or both of them getting seriously injured.

"Scarlet are you alright?" Harry asked worriedly.

"No, I'm not." He answered, not taking his eyes off the duel.

"I know those two are your friends but it's just a friendly match." Harry reassured.

"It's not just a friendly match, look." Scarlet motioned towards the duel.

He could see Harry look more closely, the facial expressions, the severity of the spells, he started to notice the intensity of the match.

Daphne had just dodged another jinx and was breathing heavily. Clearly, the young heiress wasn't use to this type of physicality and didn't have much left. A look towards Hermione and she was breathing just as hard. He could see Daphne thinking for a moment, trying to plan a way to end it now, he then saw something change with her, the Ice Queen mask soon formed on her face, and she raised her wand. Scarlet had a feeling she just figured out how to win.

"Lumos!" She shouted, a blinding light soon erupted, blinding Hermione and everyone around the stage.

Hermione shielded her eyes with her sleeve clearly not expecting that spell, the poor girl had no chance as when the light finally faded all she saw was the spell hit her and her wand knocked off her hand and into the hands of a smirking Daphne.

"Nice try Granger, but I'm clearly that much more knowledgeable than you on spells." Daphne mocked throwing the wand back to her opponent. Snape had given her a proud nod, indicating he was pleased.

"Wonderful match ladies, I speak for everyone when I say that was the best duel yet!" Lockhart cheered clapping his hands.

Hermione didn't seem to react, not even blushing at the compliment Lockhart gave her, she just quietly grabbed her wand and started walking back towards them.

"That dirty snake, using a cheap move like that, Hermione should've won." Ron complained.

Scarlet didn't like the way it ended, but he knew he had to give Greengrass credit for using that spell creatively. "Both fought well when it came to knowledge on spells their both equal, Daphne just had more to fight for than Hermione and today showed that."

"But Hermione wanted to show purebloods that Muggle-Borns aren't weak, that's a lot to fight for." Harry defended, he was confused on what Scarlet meant.

"That's true, but Daphne was fighting for her future." A fourth voice said, all three boys turned around and saw Tracey behind them.

"Being in Slytherin isn't an easy house to be in. There's a hierarchy to our house, those with rich pureblood parents are on top, middling families are in the middle, and half-bloods and Muggle-Borns are on the bottom. People like Malfoy have a lot of control in Slytherin and if you don't do and say what they want they can make your school life very miserable." She continued.

"How so?" Ron asked.

"You can be an outcast, shunned by everyone, constantly attack by your fellow housemates, so when you see people act like Malfoy or some other jerk, it's not because that's who they are, but are afraid what will happen to them if they don't join in." Tracey explained.

"How does this duel relate to Daphne though." Harry asked.

"This duel is just another test, if you perform well then your standing in Slytherin increases, if not, well your life isn't going to be easy. Daphne, on the other hand, was up against one of the more disliked students in Hogwarts." Tracey seemed to pause before continuing, what she was about to say next would be very hard for her to say. "If she lost to Granger, then she would've been an outcast, all the work she'd done to build alliances and connections would be gone as they would see her as weak, and that would've hurt her family." Tracey said quietly, a few tears falling, she quickly wiped them away. "That's what Scarlet means by Daphne having more to fight for."

Tracey's words seemed to have an effect on Harry, but more importantly Ron. Scarlet could see the gears turning in his head thinking about what Davis means. Hermione losing may be a good thing as it gave Ron an opportunity to learn the actual difficulties of being in Slytherin, and maybe the first step to letting go his bias towards them.

"Listen I got to go, tell Hermione she was great up there." Tracey said quickly and walking away to congratulate her friend.

"What did Tracey want?" Hermione asked when she reached them.

"She wanted to congratulate you on your duel." Ron answered.

"That was nice of her." Hermione said quietly.

"You did great up there, I think you showed a lot of people how tough you are." Scarlet comforted, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Harry patted her other shoulder giving the same sentiments.

The moment was interrupted when Lockhart announced the next student. "Longbottom." The Gryffindor boy look extremely nervous to be called. Scarlet pitied the boy, as whomever Snape picked would take glee in beating the boy.

"Shade!" Snape called.

Scarlet was caught off guard by his name being called, he'd thought Snape would pick another student in his house. He slowly walked over, the students around him were just as confused by him.

He climbed on stage and looked at Snape, the potion just gave him a nod, a glance a Longbottom showed the pudgy boy looked ready to faint, Scarlet told himself he'd end it quickly to put out the boys suffering.

"Begin!"

"Expelliarmus!" Shade shouted quickly, Neville had no opportunity to do anything as the spell hit him quickly and his wand sailed over to Scarlet who caught it effortlessly. He surprised himself on how powerful and quickly he used the spell. He'd only used it once or twice before with Tonks, and even then he was nowhere close to the performance he's used just now.

"My word what a powerful use of the disarming charm, haven't seen anything like that before, for someone your age." Lockhart clapped Shade on the shoulder.

"My sentiments indeed." Snape agreed.

"Well onto the next du-"

"Actually." Snape interrupted. "That looked like such an effortless performance by Shade, perhaps we should give him another opportunity."

"Yes, id agree Severus, how about you Abbott!" Lockhart agreed.

The blonde girl nodded and walked to the end of the stage and assumed the position.

"Begin!"

This time Scarlet wanted to try and counter-attack, and so he let Abbot make the first move. She fired a jinx at him and ducked, he let her fire another jinx before he cast the disarming charm again. Abbotts wand was knocked out of her hands and onto Scarlets.

"Well done Scarlet, another fabulous show." Lockhart said happily.

"Yes, how about another duel Shade? Brown!" Snape said.

XXX

"I knew Scarlet was powerful, but this is bloody incredible!" Ron exclaimed.

He and everyone watched as Scarlet beat out his fifth opponent in a row and didn't look tired.

"Scarlets always been one to keep improving, I'm just surprised he's doing so well in his first few duels." Hermione responded, not taking her eyes off Shade.

"Are you actually surprised about this?" A voice asked behind them.

All three turned and saw their fellow alliance members Daphne and Tracey walking over to them.

"Why are you here? I thought you didn't want anyone in Slytherin to see you associating with us, wouldn't it hurt your standing?" Ron surprisingly asked.

Daphne looked taken aback by that question, it was actually one of the more intelligent things he said to her. "Normally yes, however, everyone in my house is giddy at watching Scarlet embarrass the other three houses." She motioned with her head, and they could see most of Slytherin watching in awe.

"As I was saying, you honestly can't tell me you're surprised by this? Shade was always naturally gifted, and since coming here has studied up on anything he can. This is child's play to him, though he may not realize it now." She smirked, crossing her arms over her chest enjoying her friend beat a random Ravenclaw student.

"We've always known Scarlet is powerful, he just doesn't brag about it. It's what makes him a true Gryffindor." Hermione stated crossing her arms.

Daphne's right eye twitched at that comment, that was probably the strongest point Granger could make, the fact that her friend was in Gryffindor, and not Slytherin.

"It's the reason why joining the alliance was an easy decision for us, Scarlet is someone we can count on if we get in trouble, he's a natural born leader." Tracey chimed in.

"I'm just glad we have his help now, I know last year would've gone a lot better with him on our side." Harry agreed.

XXX

"Incendio!" Scarlet said, conjuring a flame right in front of the Ravenclaw girl and causing her to drop her wand.

"Six wins in a row Shade, impressive." Snape complimented.

At first, Scarlet was a tad nervous for his first duel, but with each match his confidence grew, he felt he could take on anyone.

"Time for another match, Pat-"

"Malfoy! Yes, you haven't gotten a turn up you go." Lockhart selected, interrupting his assistant. The potions master glared at the man, but he just winked back.

This would be the first person in Slytherin Scarlet would duel, he knew this would be a different duel entirely, Malfoy had access to a lot more advanced magic, whether he could even attempt them was unknown to him, best play it safe first.

"Begin!"

XXX

This time Harry was the nervous one, he knew Scarlet could handle himself, he proved that last year. Handling Malfoy was an entirely different problem, the blonde Slytherin wasn't afraid to play dirty, especially since everyone knew Snape wouldn't punish him for it.

Right before Lockhart signaled the duel to begin, Malfoy sent a spell at Shade. Caught by surprise Shade flew off and landed harshly on his back, that was the first spell to actually hit him all day. But he knew Scarlet wasn't done, his friend got up in a blink of an eye and shot a nasty jinx back. The speed at which surprised Draco and hit him square in the chest, this time knocking him back.

Harry couldn't help but laugh at that, Malfoy had always tried to present himself as this person who was superior to everyone else, to see him knocked around was highly amusing.

However, he couldn't shake off a feeling he had, throughout the day he could sense something was off, he initially shook it off, but it only grew stronger. When it was announced that Scarlet would go against Draco the feeling only got more intense, halfway between the duel he had trouble focusing, he rubbed his eyes trying to soothe himself.

Hermione seemed to noticed his distressed friend. "Harry, are you alright?"

Harry shook his head trying to clear his head. "It's alright just a headache." He lied.

He looked at the corner of his eye to see her giving him a look, it wasn't something new, whenever a topic became about his personal wellbeing, whether at home or school he tried to change the topic, obviously, she was becoming suspicious.

Luckily a reaction from the crowd brought both of their attention to the duel. Scarlet had successfully burned a portion of Malfoys robes, and the blonde boy was seething. He noticed a smirk form on his face, Harry had a bad feeling this wouldn't be good.

"Serpensortia!" The end of his wand exploded upon command. Harry watched aghast as a long black snake shot out of it, it fell heavily on the stage between Draco and Scarlet. Raising itself and ready to strike.

Harry's stomach dropped as the feeling only intensified, he looked over and saw Scarlet confused on how they handle the situation. None of them have handled creatures, they didn't know what spells would work. A quick spell bouncing off the snake confirmed his thoughts. The snake was slithering quickly toward Scarlet, he couldn't stand there and watch his friend get hurt.

" _Stop!"_ Harry shouted.

Surprisingly enough the snake stopped moving, what become odd is that it turned towards him. _'Did it actually listen to me?'_ Harry thought to himself.

" _Can you understand me?"_ Harry asked carefully.

" _Yesss."_ The snake moved closer to him, not in a threatening manner, but more in curiosity.

" _Don't hurt my friend, he did nothing wrong."_ Harry pleaded, he didn't notice but the conversation had everyone's attention, most notably Scarlets.

" _You ssspeak my wordsss how?"_ It hissed at him.

Harry was a little startled, he couldn't be the first person to ever speak of snakes. Before he could answer he noticed Snape walk over to them. He waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke.

Harry was startled by this, he looked around a noticed everyone was staring at him, not in awe as he saw from people most of the time because of his fame, but in fear. Everyone had taken a couple steps back, only Hermione and Ron were at his side and even then they both look worried.

Scarlet was soon at his side, he grabbed him by the arm an was dragging him out of the Great Hall, he didn't know why everyone was acting odd. He tried to speak to Scarlet to let go or slow down, but the boy was too deep in thought and didn't look like he was in the mood for talking. They soon stopped in front of the old classroom they'd been using as their unofficial room and walked in. He wondered why he left the door open before Ron and Hermione stepped through.

"Are they coming?" Scarlet asked, for the first time saying something.

Hermione just nodded her head, Harry's curiosity on who they were referring to was over when Greengrass and Davis stepped in. All six of them were here now, and all of whom were staring at him.

Scarlet had an expected look on his face staring at him like he expected him to admit this deep long secret. He looked over and saw both Tracey and Ron look apprehensive, Greengrass to her credit had the faithful as always Ice Queen look on her face, no emotions, and completely serious. Hermione was just staring at him.

"Aren't you going to tell us?" Scarlet asked impatiently.

"Tell you what?" Harry asked he was confused on what he meant. He noticed Scarlet close his eyes in frustration and sigh.

"You're a parslemouth." Ron was the first to speak, finally finding the courage to talk. Harry had no idea what that was.

"You can speak to snakes." Hermione explained.

"I know, I accidentally set a Python on my cousin at the zoo once." Harry explained. He noticed everyone's eyes widen at that. "But just once." Harry explained quickly, thinking they were shocked at what he did to his cousin, even if he deserved it. "Besides it doesn't matter, I bet loads of people can do it."

"No, it's not a very common gift Harry. Just like Veela's or Metamorphmagus, only very few wizards possess that ability. This is very bad." Hermione said shaking her head at the thought.

"What's bad? If I hadn't told that snake not to attack Scarlet, he'd be in the infirmary." Harry stated why everyone was making this a big deal. Alright, he apparently had a unique gift, it isn't like this is the first thing to separate himself from everyone else.

"We heard you speaking a different language, parseltongue." Tracey informed.

"Wait. How could I speak another language that I don't even know?" Harry asked, confused by this development.

"That's not the point." Daphne said stepping forward. "The reason that Slytherin houses symbol is a snake is that Salazar Slytherin is a parselmouth. Considering the fact that whoever attacked both Fred and George Weasley declared himself the Heir of Slytherin puts you as suspect number one." Daphne finished narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

Harry could see the everyone was hit hard by this fact, he started to worry that people would believe he was the one that attacked the Weasley twis, or worse his friend turning on him. A quick glance at Hermione and she gave him a hopeful look, Ron was a bit hard to read as he was staring at the ground in thought.

"But I'm not related to him." Harry weakly defended.

"You aren't." Scarlet said stepping over to him. "But that won't stop everyone else from gossiping about it. "Luckily the only people who won't believe it are the ones that are trying to stop the heir." He announced, not just to him but to everyone one in the room.

"Please, like Potter is the Heir of Slytherin, I'll eat my tie before believing that." Greengrass muttered. Harry didn't know the girl for very long, and the few times he did interact with her wasn't very nice to him or his friends, but saying that did make him feel better about the situation and about her.

"Of course not!" Hermione stepped forward. "You risked your life to save all of us, you wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Such a loving moment, I want in on this, I believe in you too Harry!" Tracey said happily. He smiled at the girl, he was liking her more and more.

Soon everyone was looking at their last member, Ron hadn't said much, and truthfully, he was worriedly he might believe he hurt his brothers. He looked up towards him and started walking over to them.

"Your family Harry, mum practically adopted you, there's no bloody way you'd hurt any of us. We'll find who hurt my brothers and stop them!" Ron declared. He pulled Harry into a hug.

Harry was touched by his and everyone's words, he'd never had family or even a friend before coming here. Now he had five people here who were going to help him. He felt that nothing would stop them now!

XXX

Malfoy was running as quickly as he could, he had to alert it on this recent development. He kept running until he reached the dungeons, he found an empty classroom and waited. It had said it would show up when called upon, didn't explain how they'd know, just that they'll show up and that it better be serious.

Malfoy gulped in fear, this was the first time he'd call it, hopefully, it found what he had to say to usefull, and not a waste of time.

Before he could continue thinking the lights went out. Draco jumped at this and banged his leg on the table. Soon the lights were back on and Malfoy knew he wasn't alone.

He looked up and saw the Heir. Shrouded in its dark cloak, the only semblance of a being underneath it was its visible lower jaw.

" **What do you want?** " The heir asked.

Malfoy knew he couldn't show fear, he stood up straighter and walked over to it, that seemed like a good idea farther away, but up close he was severely shorter than it.

"I have news I'd think you'd be interested in." Draco said shakingly, trying to sound confident. When the Heir didn't say anything, he took it as his cue to continue. "Harry Potter is a parselmouth, I and everyone in the Great Hall saw him speak to a snake I conjured.

The Heir didn't react, or just didn't show it. It didn't say anything for a few moments before it spoke

" **This is good. Those idiots will think he's the heir.** " The Heir smiled at this revelation.

"Meaning we can continue our job uninterrupted." Malfoy guessed.

" **You are smart, I did choose wisely.** " It complemented, Malfoy smiled at the praise. " **We can now move forward to phase 2.** "

"But what about your promise to petrify the blood traitors Weasleys?" Malfoy asked without thought, he then covered his mouth at objecting to the Heirs words.

" **Remember your place boy.** " The heir growled. " **I'll keep my word and attack the remaining ones, just I promised for your services. While I'm doing that you'll continue our plan.** "

"What do you command me to do?" He asked.

" **If we purebloods are going to change the world, we'll need them to join us. What better way to start then with the ones in our house.** " The heir commanded. " **By the time I return to this world we'll have a small army of followers. Mudbloods and anyone that oppose us will be killed.** " It uttered darkly.

"We can't have any witnesses, the Weasley girl saw one of her brother right before he was attacked, we almost were caught." Draco warned.

" **A small child is no threat to me!** " It roared. " **Regardless, with this map, I'll know the precise locations of everyone in this school. We'll know when they're alone, and we'll target them swiftly, and painfully.** The heir pulled out an old parchment, through a stroke of luck his first victim had it on him.

" **Now go! Recruit followers to our cause, and you best not disappoint me.** " It threatened.

Malfoy nodded quickly and ran out of the room, he was excited that the heir found his information useful. When he returned the Malfoys would help create a new world, and they would be standing re beside the heir doing so.

 **Authors Note: Another long chapter, these last two have been over 7000 words. Sorry for the long wait. This was a chapter I was a bit nervous about as it would technically be my first "Fight scenes" I think a did an alright job at it, and hopefully, you all enjoyed it. I went back and forth on who I wanted to win between Daphne and Hermione, but I felt with her winning would help give Ron and Harry an idea on Slytherin and the next step in dropping their bias,**

 **Originally I was going to have the classic Malfoy vs Potter duel, but figured it wouldn't change anything other than having to write out a few more words. PLus it gave me a chance to showcase Scarlet's power, its been talked about how he's stronger than everyone else but not much shown, this was to compare him to his housemates. There will be an explanation of why, I'm not writing this OC to be super powerful for no reason other than he's the main protagonist, that's boring.**

 **We get to see more of the Heir, and their next phases of their plan. Once we passed the holidays the story will pick up dramatically, and we'll learn more about who is the dark heir.**

 **Thank you very much for reading, hope to hear comments on what you think of the story, see you all in a few weeks!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: All the characters and the world of Harry's Potter is owned by JK Rowling.**

Within Shadows Chapter 6

Let it be known that even though being in Slytherin saved you from the wrath of Professor Snape, it did not save you from his grueling essays. For instance, a twelve-inch parchment on basilisk venom, what few treatments are there, how quickly does the venom kill the victim?

Daphne narrowed her eyes at her assignment, leave it to Harry Potter to make her life difficult. Originally it was an eight-inch parchment, but Potter had chosen a wonderful time to discuss with Granger on Merlin knows what. As punishment, he had increased their workload.

At first, she had found Snape's obvious resentment towards Potter amusing, as did everyone in Slytherin, now she just felt embarrassed at how childish she had acted a year ago, and now she found it tiresome and just wanted to focus on her potion work.

Her opinion on the boy who lived had changed drastically over the past few weeks. Before being approached by Scarlet to join the Shadow Alliance she didn't care for him, he was average in most classes, only getting by thanks to his know-it-all friend. Upon actually interacting with him she had found him to be different from what she expected. She heard _stories_ from Snape and Malfoy about the boy, how he wasn't special, arrogant, and a troublemaker. He had been none of those things from what she had seen. Instead of arrogance, she saw caring, instead of a troublemaker she saw someone being there for his friends.

It put it in perspective the maturing she had started a year ago, from when she finally decided to drop some of her walls and accept Scarlet Shade as her friend. She still put up a cold persona around most Slytherin boys _'Boys like them only want one thing.'_ She thought disgustedly. With everyone else, she was at least pleasant. She wasn't running off making friends with everyone she bumped into, she just wasn't rude about it now.

Just because her perception of Potter changed it didn't mean her opinion on his two companions changed much either.

Weasley had quickly proved himself to be exactly as she imagined him to be, redheaded temper, quick to judgment, and completely bias against her house. She had to hold herself from going off on him a few times, she was annoyed at the nickname he had given her and Scarlet last year. Ice King of Gryffindor, and Ice Queen of Slytherin.

But then she realized there was actually more to him. Sure, his anger had started from his bias of the green house, but upon seeing him in the aftermath of his two brothers being petrified, she realized it wasn't biased fueling his anger towards Slytherin, but someone in that house targeting his family. If there was something she could respect is defending your family when they're being attacked.

So, while her opinion of him hadn't changed _that_ much, she had a better idea of Weasley, and could at least work with him.

Granger, on the other hand, got on her nerves, despite trying to look past her faults it seemed every day she would do something that infuriated her. She had shared her feelings with her best friend and Tracey had suggested that talking with Granger would help. She shook her head at that notion, their duel a few weeks ago had shown her that being alone with her was a bad idea.

She hadn't discussed her issues with Granger to Scarlet and was worried he would think of her as someone who discriminated towards Muggle-borns.

Shade had approached her one evening in the library, she was worried he would go off on her and make assumptions about her treatment towards the bucked tooth Gryffindor, but to her surprise, he had asked for her point of view. He had listened to her speak for the better part of an hour, without interrupting her, and to her surprise smiled at her, with those big dark eyes filled with amusement. She almost smacked him with one of her books for the look he was giving her. Shaking his head from laughter he had explained that she and Granger were very similar and that they only needed to talk to put their differences behind them.

She didn't know how but talking to Scarlet always made her feel at ease like she could say anything to him and he'd always be there. Daphne at times felt weird around Scarlet, she could have the most enjoyable of times with him, but at the same time her heart would feel like it was about to jump out of her chest. She didn't know why, but it was a good feeling. She smiled to herself at the thought and was glad to have him in her life.

A loud thump to her right made her jump out of her seat. She took a few breaths to calm her heart down, this time she knew why her heart was beating so much. Daphne noticed someone standing close to her, she looked up narrowed her eyes. Tracey had a sheepish look on her face and was rubbing the back of her neck. The prat had dropped a massive book on the table she was sitting at.

"Sorry Daph lost my grip." Tracey apologized.

"That's fine, just ask for my help next time." Daphne said slowly. She looked down at the book Tracey had dropped, her moment of anger dissipated as she noticed it was the book she had sent Tracey to pick up from her luggage. "Anyone stop you?"

"Parkinson gave me an odd look for carrying that, but no one else batted an eye." Tracey explained sitting down beside her.

"Doesn't matter, I doubt she's the heir anyway." Daphne said flipping through the pages.

"You really think the heir is somewhere in there." Tracey asked hesitantly motioning towards the book with her hand.

"I do, whoever they are they have to be from a notable family in Britain. This book contains every pureblood family, and the members there are stretching back for hundreds of years" Daphne explained going through the pages.

"But there's so many families to go through, how can we possibly narrow down the list of names?" Tracey asked, concerned about the fact their search was becoming more difficult by the moment.

"As much as it pains me to admit, Granger and I established a criteria on how to narrow down the search." Daphne said grimacing at the idea Scarlet's plan of putting them together actually working.

"Well what do you know, Scarlet was actually right. Again." Tracey beamed.

"Quiet you!" Daphne hushed.

"Oh, come on, working with Hermione couldn't have been that bad." Tracey argued.

"I've told you my issues when it comes to Granger." Daphne growled, she was getting tiresome with the topic of _her_.

"Yeah, yeah, you don't like her, blah, blah, blah." Tracey mocked. Davis and her have had this discussion many times and by this point, Tracey had started to have some fun with at her expense.

Daphne just rolled her eyes at her and started to write down names on a parchment. "Either you can sit there, or you can start writing down names and show me and Hogwarts you're more than just a pretty face." Daphne quipped.

Tracey mocking narrowed her eyes, she grabbed the quill out of Daphne's hand and started to write down names off the book. Soon both girls broke into giggles and enjoyed the rest of their time together before the Shadow Alliances next meeting.

XXX

"So, these are the suspects you have?" Scarlet asked looking down at the parchment filled with names.

Daphne and Hermione had called a meeting to discuss a new development. They had created a criteria on whom they believed would be the best fit to be the heir, looking at blood status, wealth, influence, and other factors. Thanks to Greengrass's book on notable families of Britain it only took a few hours.

"Yes, based on all the facts we accumulated these students fit the best description of being the heir." Hermione answered.

"Cassius Warrington, Graham Montague, Miles Bletchy" Harry said reading the names out loud.

"Draco Malfoy?" Ron said slightly surprised.

Everyone looked at Daphne for an answer.

"I thought you told us the chances of someone our age or younger is impossible." Scarlet asked the question everyone was thinking. From the start, Daphne was adamant that heir had to be at least in their 4th year, and even that was a stretch she'd confirmed.

Daphne had the decency to blush at the contradictory of her words. "Yes, however recent events have caused a change of heart." She said.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Just this morning I was approached by Malfoy. Normally this isn't unusual, in Slytherin exchange of information is quite common, but this time it was different." Daphne said, she narrowed her eyes in concentration trying to remember the moment precisely.

"Strange how?" Tracey asked.

"He seemed….unnerved. He would glance around every few moments as if he was about to be caught." Daphne explained.

"Go on." Ron urged, excited that he may be right after all.

"He didn't go into any details, but he said if I want to be a part of the new world that I'll stay in school for the holidays for a meeting" Daphne ominously.

"You think he's behind all of this?" Scarlet asked.

"I put his name down for a reason, right now that's the best lead we have." Daphne shrugged.

"I knew it! From the way he taunted us after Fred was petrified was proof enough!" Ron exclaimed.

"Ronald please clam down, we don't want Percy catching us in here again." Hermione urged, slightly embarrassed by her friend's outburst.

"So, are you going to attend?" Shade asked, trying to get back on topic.

Daphne seemed to think for a moment and then nodded her head.

"We should probably have both of you and Tracey attend, that way in case something goes wrong you can cover each other's backs." Harry suggested.

Daphne and Tracey seemed to share a look, as if they were sharing a private conversation. Then eventually Tracey spoke up.

"I can't go." She uttered sadly looking down at the ground.

"How come?" Ron asked.

"I wasn't invited." Tracey said simply.

"But you're a member of Slytherin, why wouldn't you be a part of this?" Ron asked confused by this.

"It's because I'm a Half-Blood, I told you earlier that there's a tier system in our house. Its only because of my friendship with Daphne that I'm not a target in there, it's doubtful I'd be invited because of my blood." Tracey said sadly.

It was one of the few times Scarlet had seen Davis without a smile on her face, the normally positive witch looked miserable saying that, he figured her heritage was a sore topic, especially since she's in Slytherin.

Ron actually looked sad by this, Scarlet almost assumed Weasley pitied the girl, maybe there was hope yet.

"Well we can't have you go by yourself, it's too dangerous." Harry affirmed.

The group seemed to think what to do, this meeting was to be held in the Slytherin common most likely, no students were allowed in the other houses living space, so how could they get in?

Scarlet had an answer, of course, using his metamorphmagus abilities, but the problem was he hadn't told anyone here he had them. He wasn't sure why he hadn't told anyone, he figured there wasn't a real importance to reveal it and having that secret in his back pocket would come in handy. He sighed in annoyance that he'd have to share it, but he knew it has to come out eventually.

"I'll go with Daphne to this _meeting_." Scarlet declared stepping forward.

"You probably would get an invite if you were in Slytherin, but I don't think Malfoy is going to break school rules just for you." Hermione pointed out.

"I won't be going as Scarlet Shade, I'll be going as someone else." Scarlet said and immediately changed his features to match that of Astoria Greengrass.

Everyone in the room gasped at the development, the most comical of reactions was Daphne as she had her jaw wide open, not sure whether it was because of him showcasing his abilities or taking the appearance of her sister.

"You're a metamorphmagus." Hermione said it wasn't a question.

"A what?" Harry, Tracey, and Ron asked at the same time.

"A metamorphmagus is a witch or wizard with the ability to change their appearance, without the need for a wand, spell or potion." Hermione informed, not taking her eyes off Scarlet.

"That's bloody brilliant!" Ron said in awe.

"That's so cool!" Tracey screamed running up to him and invading his personal space. She peered closer to him and started to look up and down as if in disbelief.

"I know Tracey, this is exciting, but can you please be excited a step or two or way." Scarlet asked taking a few steps back. The girl just nodded her head too busy looking at him still.

"Aren't you full of surprises Shade? Every time I think I finally have you figured you pull another trick up your sleeve." Daphne praised.

"I think that's the nicest thing you said to me Greengrass." Scarlet winked.

"Don't let it go to your head, this classroom couldn't hold your gigantic ego." She mocked back grinning at him.

Scarlet laughed at her joke, then looked back to everyone else changing his features. "So, come the holidays Greengrass and I will infiltrate this _meeting_ and learn what Draco is up to. Hopefully, it will give us some idea on what to do next."

"It's' finally something to work with." Ron said happily.

In truth, both of them had started to get a little frustrated at no new development for weeks. Scarlet had always been well at staying calm in most situations but this heir mystery had him agitated, of course, that may have been the lack of sleep but that was a problem for a different day. To now have a possible lead made him feel slightly better.

"Now if you excuse me I have someone to meet." Scarlet excused himself walking to the door.

"Hold on!" Hermione called running over to him. "I want you to wear this." She handed him a small badge.

Scarlet grabbed it and flipped it over. He mentally sighed what was on it. In bold letters it said S.P.E.W.

"I'm starting to give these out, to spread the messages about house elves injustice. It would be a lot of help if you wore them." Hermione pleaded.

"I keep telling you most elf's are happy serving for families Hermione." Scarlet said trying to not sound tired. A quick yawn escaped his mouth.

"I can't stop, not when house elves are being forced to cook, clean, and forced to do anything their masters want, it's barbaric." She ranted.

Scarlet knew Hermione's mind was difficult to change once she was on something, so he pinned the badge to his school robes and nodded to her before leaving. He didn't feel like arguing with her, he just hoped she stopped this soon because he had a dark feeling this heir might not be happy about this.

 _XXX_

The carriage finally stopped indicating he had reached his destination, he quickly got off and made his way into town. Hogsmeade didn't change from when he last visited last year. The first few visits were fun, but it soon quickly became stale with nothing new to do. He figured that's how Tonks, Jess, and Rebecca came up with the idea to visit London.

He made his way to Hogs Head Inn, he double checked on the letter confirming the meeting place. He stepped inside and the first thing he noticed there was the stingy smell, was that goats? Most of the walls and windows were covered in dirt and dust. He looked around and noticed not too many people, the few there seemed to keep to themselves. He walked over to a corner booth which seemed to offer the most privacy and waited.

He waited for a few minutes before he saw someone walking over to him, he was currently morphed as 5th-year Hufflepuff Cedric Diggory, so he knew he wouldn't be recognized as Scarlet Shade. At first glance, he noticed she seemed very pretty, a bit short, her biggest feature was the fiery red hair, her dark eyes matching the said hair. The witch smiled at him and sat down across from him. Scarlet was really confused about on why she came over to him.

"Why hello there handsome, what's a pretty lad like you doing in a miserable place like this." She said slowly, making sure she maintained eye contact and playing with her hair.

"Minding my own business." He said bluntly crossing his arms trying to show his lack of interest in a conversation.

"Ooooh, a brooder. You must have some juicy stuff, feel like sharing?" She said sweetly, oblivious to his behavior.

Scarlet narrowed his eyes at here. "Sorry not interested, now please leave."

She pouted playfully at him and then smirked at him. "You sure there isn't anything I can do to change your mind." She said batting her eye lashes several times.

Scarlet leaned forward a small smile on his face. "Actually, there is something you can." He said slowly.

She leaned in as well. "Well, what can little ol' me do for you." She said playfully.

Scarlet leaned in closer and motioned for her to do the same. She moved in closer as they were only a few inches away from one another. He whispered softly "You can change back Tonks."

"Aw! How did you know!?" The witch pulled back and banged her first against the table, her shape started to change as his all too familiar friend was revealed to him.

"I've seen the way you flirt Tonks, I knew it was you by just the way you were walking over here." He said confidently leaning back.

"And how's that?" Tonks asked surprised that he saw through her.

"Way too overconfident for someone about to humiliate them self." He joked.

"Oi! I'll have you know I convinced someone in fourth year to do my homework just by the way I walked over to him. You blokes are easy to manipulate." She said evilly rubbing her hands.

"I guess it's a good thing I'm immune to your….charm." Scarlet drawled.

"We'll see." She responded leaning back comfortably. "Nice to see you again Scarlet." She said sincerely.

"Nice to see you Tonks." Scarlet said smiling.

"From what I've heard, I'm guessing this meet up isn't because you really missed me." She said getting straight to business, she waved her wand around them casting a privacy charm.

"I wish it was, but things are starting to get dangerous at Hogwarts." Scarlet said.

"Dumbledore has made it so not much news has leaked, only a dozen or so people who work in the Ministry know what's actually going on." She explained.

Scarlet wasn't surprised that Dumbledore did that if news broke of what was going on there would be mass panic, parents would immediately take their children out of school. It wasn't a bad thing, however, the heir would easily escape the headmaster clutches. So, by keeping quiet Dumbledore knows where to look.

"Scarlet." Tonks said grabbing his attention. "I need you to explain everything that's happened since Halloween."

He nodded and spent the better part of an hour explaining to her everything that has happened, excluding the nightmares. Explaining the discovery of the Weasley twins petrified states, his creation of the Shadow Alliance, and most recently his experience in the duel club.

Tonks had stayed quiet the entire time, Scarlet was impressed by that, he could already see the difference Auror Academy training has done for her. She seemed to be going through every single bit of information he told her. After he was done speaking she stayed quiet, she seemed deep in concentration on what he just told her, hopefully, she would have something good to offer to help them.

"Scarlet I'm happy that you're socializing with people outside of me, but this is a very dangerous game your playing." She said concerned.

"Pardon?" Scarlet was confused about where this was coming from.

Tonks looked away for a moment and bit her lip, she seemed to be having difficulty speaking, but eventually looked back at him with sad eyes. "After last year, when I saw you on that hospital bed with your skin so pale, and magic severely drained, I was so scared." She blinked away a few tears that started to come down. "I thought you'd never wake up, and it would be my fault, I promised I'd look after you and only a few months later you were on the verge of dying." She looked down at her lap. "That's why I don't want you investigating this, I don't want you to see you hurt yourself again." She finally looked up and Scarlet could see her eyes were red from crying.

Every time he talked to her, Tonks always seemed to surprise him, the care and compassion she always showed him always made him feel special and no one he knew could make him feel that way.

He got off his seat and walked to the other side of the table and sat beside her, he wrapped his arms around her and felt her do the same. They didn't say anything for a while and just held one another. Eventually, he felt her arms start to unwrap and moved back a bit to look at her. Tonks had a smile on her face, and Scarlet smiled back.

"Look at me crying like a baby, I'm the adult, I should be the one comforting you." She joked wiping her eyes.

"That's why I think we get along so well, I act older than I am, and you act younger." He quipped smirking at her.

She punched him in the arm. "Prat!" She laughed. Soon he started laughing as well, he missed this.

"Enough of this emotional mushiness, I know you have a cold exterior persona to keep up." She mocked.

"Cold exterior persona? I'd like to think I'm a lot different than last year." Scarlet said shaking his head.

"You do seem a lot different, at least your personality is. You seem…happier." She complimented.

"Funny thing is I do feel different, I'm getting along with more students, my professors, for the most part, have told me how much they enjoy teaching me." Scarlet said thinking back to all the times he got along with everyone a Hogwarts.

"Well I'm glad, I was slightly worried about you but I'm glad you've done well on your own." Tonks appraised looking at him up and down then narrowing her eyes. "Scarlet why don't you change back its slightly weird talking to you with a different face.

"I'd rather not get in trouble for sneaking into Hogsmeade Tonks." Scarlet muttered looking around the bar.

"Relax, no one comes here and everyone here keeps to their own business, why'd you think I set up the meeting here." She explained.

Scarlet reluctantly morphed his face back and tried to gauge Tonks reaction, he did change his face a bit since the last time she saw him. For instance, instead of spiking his hair to the side it had a more combed look, and his eyes were a shade darker.

"I like the look Scarlet, I told you changing your features is a lot of fun." Tonks said changing her hair color from pink to white.

"Yes, though I prefer small changes, you know I don't like being the center of attention." Scarlet responded.

"But it's so much fun!" She beamed, changing her hair to a different color per word.

"I'll think about being more…adventurous with my hair color." He said but knew he would never go as colorful as Tonks did. He was about to continue before letting out a yawn.

"Getting enough sleep?" Tonk asked.

Scarlet shrugged at her question, he wasn't interested in discussing his nightmares, but he knew she could be stubborn when she wanted too. He unmorphed his features to show his true face.

Tonks gasped as she looked at his face, he knew he didn't look his best. The occasional nightmares kept him up most of the night, causing his eyes to have very dark bags under them and making his eyes very red. Scarlet figured he must be a walking example of what Jessica would call a "hot mess".

"This is what I mean Scarlet, you're putting too much work into this heir business, and not getting enough sleep because of it." Tonks scolded.

Scarlet thought about letting her think that was the reason, but she was the closest person to him if he couldn't open up to her then who could he?

He closed his eyes and sighed, this was going to be uncomfortable for him.

"I." He paused trying to by himself just a few more seconds. "I've been having nightmares." He said quietly not looking her in the eye.

She looked at him for a few moments. "For how long?"

Scarlet closed his eyes and started to rub them with his hands. "Since school started." He said mentally preparing for her reaction.

"Three months! Why didn't you tell me, we've been writing to each other every week." She said angrily, but he could tell there was a sense of disappointment underneath all of it.

He finally looked up at her, saw a disappointed look on her face. He knew he messed up by not talking to her. "I guess because the nightmares aren't actually nightmares." He saw her encourage him to continue. "They're memories of my time with _them."_ Tonks narrowed her eyes when he said that, he knew instantly she understood who he was referring to.

"Even far away from them, those bastards are still ruining your life." Tonks growled, her eyes and hair changing color from white to red.

"Its okay, its just silly nightmares." Scarlet tried to calm his friend down, he didn't want them attracting any attention.

"It's not okay Scarlet, you're suffering for their actions, and it's not fair!" Tonks argued back slamming her fists on the table. "You're a good kid, and deserve so much happiness, instead of what you got for half your life, by those religious nuts!"

"But Tonks I am happy. I get three meals every day, have my own pet, have a group of friends that weirdly enjoy my presence, and most importantly have a bad-ass auror looking out for me." Scarlet smiled at Tonks to show he was genuine with everything said.

His words had seemed to cut off any further anger and surprised the witch. "Well I wouldn't say I'm a bad-ass, but you insist." She smiled rubbing the back of her neck in response to his praise.

"I do." Scarlet smiled. "I appreciate the concern but right now I'm handling it." Scarlet comforted.

Tonks looked back at him, she looked like she wanted to continue talking about it, but she knew he was capable of handling anything. Living with those muggles proved that. However, she felt he needed help from time to time, she knew if it got worse he'd eventually come to him, and that's all she could hope for.

"So tell me about the Auror Academy." Scarlet asked changing the subject to a more positive topic.

"It's fantastic, they paired me with senior auror Mad-Eye-Moody. Scary bloke at first glance, but he's taught me so much." She explained.

"He sounds like a big deal." Scarlet asked.

"Yup! I mean he looks and talks crazy, but he knows what he's doing." She said excitedly bouncing up and down her chair.

Scarlet had to hold back a laugh, she seemed like a little girl excited to tell her parents how fun her first day of school was. That is until she grew up and realized how much she'd learn to hate it with how much work it was. However, it seemed after a few months Tonks hadn't reached that faze.

"How so?" Scarlet asked.

"Well on the first day he rambled on and on about staying vigilant and never knowing when you might be attacked… You know, the boring stuff." She waved her hand dismissively at the words. Scarlet nodded.

"Well, a few minutes in he sends a boil jinx straight at me! Caught me by surprise and landed on my arse, making it worse there was a giant boil on my face!" Tonks morphed her skin to give him an accurate description of what happened. "Since then he's been sending me sneaky spells to keep me on my toes."

Scarlet smirked at that. "Sounds like Tonks has finally found a man to set you in line." He joked.

"Oi! There's no one that can beat me."

Scarlet raised his hand in mock surrender. "Yes, yes, you tell everyone that all the time. Now tell me more about what you've been up to." He asked.

They spent the next few hours talking about what the others been up too. Tonks had explained the different type of training she was put through, wand movements, stealth (Which she currently was failing at because she kept tripping), dealing with hypothetical situations, and even as peacekeepers.

Scarlet's interest definitely peeked, the idea of an auror sounded very good to him, and he started to consider more and more as a possible career choice.

"You make it sound fun Tonks, I doubt it actually is but sounds like you're happy with where you are." Scarlet said happily.

"I am, it's a lot of work, but very rewarding. Hopefully, after two years of training, they'll finally put me on missions and I'll be able to help out." She said back, then a smile formed over her face. "It would be even better if a certain metamorphmagus I know became an auror as well and became my sidekick." She joked.

"Your friends told me how you treat your boyfriends, I doubt you'll treat your sidekicks any better." Scarlet quipped.

"Of course I would! Plus a few odd jobs, like cleaning my house, getting my coffee, washing my clothes. Normal auror duties." Tonks tried to say serious but failing when she burst out laughing at her own joke.

"I can't wait." Scarlet deadpanned.

"But seriously, think about it. We would make an incredible team, with your power, and my charm and fashionable good looks, no one could beat us. We'd scare off any dark wizards hiding in their deep dark caves." Tonks said excitedly at the idea.

"That does sound appealing, though it would be a few years before I became an Auror, you might be too old by then." Scarlet joked.

"OI! IM NOT OLD!" Tonks said loudly banging her fists on the table.

"Well by the time I get there I'd be twenty-one, you would already be twe-."

 ***smack***

Scarlet rubbed the side of his head, not expecting Tonks to respond physically to his joke. He narrowed his eyes at her, but one look at the angry face of Nymphadora Tonks and he directed them down the floor. He didn't realize how interesting rotten wood could be.

XXX

They stood by the carriages waiting for one to show up. The earlier incident long behind them.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye." Scarlet said.

"For now, we'll see each other again soon enough." Tonks said moving over and giving him a hug. Scarlet stilled a second at the unexpected embrace. "Ah Scarlet one day you'll get used to my hugs." She said squeezing him even tighter.

Scarlet eventually returned the embrace, enjoying seeing his friend again. They soon let go as a carriage appeared.

"Be careful okay, you're playing a very dangerous game with your friends." Tonks warned him

"I will, and I'll write you if I need help." He said.

"And I'll always be there." She winked back.

Scarlet walked over and climbed himself onto the carriage. He waved goodbye as it started to pull away. Eventually, he couldn't see her anymore and the seriousness of his situation started to creep his thoughts again.

XXX

 _He didn't know how much more he could take; every time his dad came into the room he'd stare at him like he was the devil. That thought made Scarlet shiver in fear. His daddy told him numerous times to sin was the devil's dirty work, he didn't do the devils work, he was a good boy._

 _A groan escaped his lips as he tried to move his arm, his body was sore from being hit by his dad's belt. After praying didn't work his parents had moved on to using physical "treatments". He begged them not to, but they only said it was for his own good._

 _The door to his room opened and he saw his dad walk in. He smiled at him, that's what confused him most, at the beginning of his beatings they were kind to him as if nothing was wrong. But as time went on they got more and more frustrated, and that resorted to beatings._

" _Scarlet I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but you leave me no choice." His dad sighed as he pulled something from his pocket._

 _Scarlet recognized it immediately, it was a knife, a very sharp knife. One day he had walked into the kitchen to eat something, his mommy was sleeping and he didn't want to bother her, he found a chocolate bar but he couldn't pull the wrapper apart. Looking around he had spotted a knife, long story short he ended up cutting his finger, not enough for stitches, but it was very painful._

 _His daddy had also brought a small bowl with him, there was steam coming from it, he set it down on his dresser, a quick glance showed it was water inside._

" _Why did you bring Holy water?" Scarlet asked weakly._

 _The man smiled at him. "I'm glad you remember your Sunday school lessons. Since the demon plaguing you isn't gone, I've figured I should move on to the lord's water." He pulled a chair and sat directly in front of him, still holding the knife._

 _His dad placed the blade of the knife in the water and held it in for half a minute._

" _I'm sorry son, but this is for your own good. Once that demon is out of you we can go to the park and have fun again, I promise you son." The man said holding the knife in front of him._

 _Scarlet was confused on what was going on, what was his dad going to do? His dad grabbed his arm with his other hand and rolled up the sleeve. Scarlet started to get nervous, he couldn't possibly be doing what he was thinking of doing? The closer the blade came the more Scarlet started to squirm._

" _Dad, no!" Scarlet begged. The blade came closer._

" _No, no, no!" Scarlet tried to move his arm but his dad's grip was too strong._

 _The blade rested on his forearm, the heat radiating from it was enough to make cry._

" _It'll be quick I promise." He smiled at him, that damn smile._

" _Dad please NO!" His father ignored him as he pulled the knife back on his skin._

XXX

A rocking movement jolted Scarlet awake, he panicked a little at the constant motion. He looked around him and saw he was sleeping out at night, specifically on the carriage.

That's when it came back to him he was back at Hogwarts.

Scarlet groaned to himself as he rubbed his head, whenever he thought he was past the nightmares they always came back, this time it wasn't even a couple hours of sleep but now happening during a small nap.

He unconsciously rubbed his forearm where his father had made the first cut, sometimes even thinking about the memory of how he got it gave him pain. Even after all this time he could still remember every cut, every slash, and burn that littered his body. He curled his fists in anger at the memory, but just as quickly let go of it.

He climbed out walked back towards the castle, he had no idea what time it was and felt it was best to get to his common room quickly. As he walked the halls the emptiness of them didn't make him feel good, usually, students would roam the halls in the evening. _'Had I been asleep longer than I thought? How late is it?'_

Eventually, Scarlet made it back to his common room and gave the Fat Lady the password opening it up. What he didn't expect was mass panic, it seemed the entire Gryffindor house was in a frenzy over something, there were several conversations going off at once, some students were shaking like leaves, others looked like they were afraid of their own shadow.

He noticed Katie Bell talking to a few of her friends. He walked over to her hoping she would have an answer to why everyone was like this. He tapped her arm gaining her attention.

"Scarlet where have you been? McGonagall ordered all Gryffindors back our rooms, you've been gone awhile." Katie said concerned.

"I... lost track of time spent most of it outside the castle." Scarlet said vaguely.

"That makes sense then. Have you heard?" She asked slightly nervous.

"Heard what?"

Katie looked around afraid that something might get her. "Another Gryffindor student has been petrified. The first two times may have been a coincidence, but now everyone in our house is scared they might be next." Katie said worriedly.

Scarlet's first instinct was to look around to see who was missing, he quickly noticed that Harry Potter was not in here with them. "Was it Harry?" Scarlet asked, nervous to find out if his thoughts were true.

Katie looked surprised at what he said. "Harry isn't petrified." Katie said. Scarlet sighed a sense of relief, It would make things difficult if one of the six were to be petrified "He found the person who was petrified."

Scarlet knew this would not help Harry at all. Already the entire school thought he was the heir, now this would just add fuel to the already burning fire. "Who did he find?"

"Percy Weasley." Katie answered.

 **AN: Sorry for being late, just had a lot of trouble with the scene between Scarlet and Tonks, not sure what to include and how to structure that conversation.**

 **Another Weasley has been claimed, there's only two left, how will the Shadow Alliance react to this? Well, next chapter they'll put their plan into motion and find out what Malfoy has been up to. No poly Juice potion so Scarlet and Daphne won't have to leave suddenly, a lot will be learned. Hope you enjoy this chapter and see you soon!**

 **Also really happy to break 100,000 words with this chapter. Thank you for joining me on this adventure, I promise you the updates won't stop and I will be finishing this.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling**

Within the Shadows Chapter 7

The heavy snowfall signaled the start of the winter season. Most people would do their best to stay out as little as possible in this weather, but not Shade. Ever since he unlocked his magic, snow, and any cold weathers didn't affect him. Standing underneath the snowfall with his eyes closed, he was at peace. No worries about his reoccurring nightmares, his friends, or the heir could bother him.

Scarlet reluctantly opened his eyes though, he knew his friends were waiting for him, and he would not hear the end of it from Daphne if he was late for tonight. For the past few weeks, they'd finalized their plan for Malfoys meeting. Daphne and him disguised as her sister would infiltrate the party and learn what Malfoy junior was up to. Harry and Hermione would be on standby at their usual meeting place.

It took a lot of arguing to get those two to agree, initially they came up with the idea to use poly juice potion to change their appearances and use it to sneak into the meeting as well. But the uncertainty on how long it lasts and being able to pull off acting like purebloods were issues that would only get them caught. Hermione, in particular, was hurt by it as he had sided with Daphne on this, and because of their rivalry viewed it as a personal offense. It took a long conversation at the end of Transfiguration class but she eventually saw his and Daphne's logic.

Tracey had gone home for the holidays to spend time with her family. Ron had to keep his promise to his mother to come home. Scarlet wasn't sure the chances of him or Ginny coming back to Hogwarts, but that wasn't a pressing concern now.

It wasn't long before he made his way to the empty classroom. Walking inside he found out to be the last person to arrive. Daphne and Hermione were by the front of the classroom not speaking to each other. While Harry was at the corner leaning against the wall, he seemed to be preoccupied with something.

It wasn't long before his presence was noticed. He walked over to the front of the classroom to the disapproving glare of Greengrass.

"You're late." She scolded placing her hands on her hips.

"Nice seeing you too Greengrass." Scarlet joked, he could see her right eye twitch, and maybe this wasn't the best time to annoy her. "Sorry. I lost track of time." The apology had the desired effect as she calmed down.

"Apology accepted." She walked over by the front desk and grabbed a bag on the ground, she walked back over and handed it to him. "Here are my clothes, try not to stretch them out."

He grabbed the bag and wrapped the cloak around himself to give him some privacy. The girls and Harry had the decency to look away. He silently groaned to himself that this was the second year in a row where he had to put on witches clothing, Tonks could never find out about this. Scarlet was just thankful he didn't have to put on a bra this time.

He quickly finished getting dressed and closed his eyes to focus on morphing to Astoria. He must've done it as he heard a gasp from everyone in the room. He wasn't use to morphing with an audience, he can only imagine it's not something you see every day.

"Amazing, I've read up on metamorphmagus since you told us, but to see it is brilliant." Hermione remarked, clearly impressed by his ability.

"Thank you." He noticed Daphne give him a frown at his words. "What's wrong? Did I miss something?" He looked down inspecting his appearance

"Your appearance changed, but your voice hasn't." She critiqued.

"I was hoping you would do most of the talking for us." Scarlet answered, he was already aware he couldn't alter his voice, his hope was that since Daphne was the heir to the household of Greengrass most of the questions would be directed to her.

"That's fine if Draco is anything like his father he'll do most of the talking anyway." She joked.

Harry stepped forward from his corner and looked at both him and Daphne. "Be careful you too, get what we need and get out." He warned.

"The concern is touching, but not needed." Daphne remarked walking out of the classroom.

Scarlet had to chuckle to himself, leave it Daphne to make an exit like that. He looked over at the two of them and nodded to them. They knew he wouldn't take unnecessary risks. He soon followed Greengrass out of the classroom closing the door on his friends.

XXX

Hermione frowned when Scarlet left the room, she knew he could take care of himself, but she just wished someone other than Greengrass went with him. But he made sense on why fewer people going would mean an easier time getting by.

She sighed to herself and sat by one of the desks and pulled out a book. If she was going to wait, she might as well study while doing so. However, no matter how hard she tried to focus, she couldn't stop thinking about what might've been going on. She looked over to see how Harry was passing the time, she frowned seeing him still by the corner of the classroom.

Since he arrived Harry had kept to himself, she thought he was nervous for his friends, but he didn't seem anxious, he just seemed deep in thought.

Harry had a tendency to keep to himself, as her friend she tried to get him to open up, but he was rather stubborn. Though he hadn't said much about it, she had suspected for a while that he might be abused at home. From the lack of physical contact and his withdrawn personality, she wasn't a hundred percent sure, but strongly suspected.

She closed the book in front of her and stood up walking towards him. She didn't know why this conversation would be any different. He would tell her nothing is wrong, or he's just thinking. Honestly, why are boys difficult most of the time?

She walked right in front of him, she expected him to say something but he didn't. She coughed trying to get his attention, but that didn't work. She tried calling his name but that didn't work. She closed her eyes and pinched her nose in annoyance, she soon stood right beside him and yelled into his ear. "Harry!"

That had the desired effect as Harry reacted to her words, he stumbled a bit off the wall, he looked around looking for whatever startled him, once he his eyes landed on her he closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath.

"Blimey Hermione nearly gave me a panicked attack." He brought a hand to his chest feeling his heart beating faster than normal.

"Sorry Harry, but I kept calling your name." She bit her lip at what she was going to say next. "Are you alright?" She saw him close his eyes and sigh at her question. "Please Harry. Something is troubling you, and it isn't nothing." She pleaded, hoping that he'd finally open up.

He seemed to be contemplating whether to say something, eventually, he looked he her in the eyes, and she knew she made progress. "I'm worried about Scarlet."

That... wasn't what she thought he was thinking about, but it was something! "Harry, Scarlet can take care of himself, we both saw him at the dueling club, besides Malfoy shouldn't be able to see through his disguise. Daphne is with him." She muttered the last part. She saw him frown in response.

"That's the thing Hermione, what if Daphne can't help him." Harry responded shaking his head.

"What do you mean? She's his friend, I know we don't know her very well, but Scarlet trusts her." Hermione was confused on what point Harry was trying to make.

"What if she doesn't have his best interest at heart, what if she doesn't want to help us." Harry started to look unsettled as if he saw something he shouldn't.

"Harry, what are you talking about?" Hermione asked confused about where this was coming from.

"You remember how I found Percy Weasley petrified." Harry asked, but they both know she was fully aware. "No one saw him before he was petrified, but that's a lie." Harry started to get angry as he continued speaking. "I wasn't the last person to see Percy that night."

"Then who was?" Hermione asked.

"Daphne." Harry stated.

XXX

" _How could he do that to his friends?"_

" _No wonder Potter killed You-Know-Who, he's the Heir of Slytherin."_

" _I have to keep watch of my little sister because we're both muggle-born."_

 _Harry closed his eyes in frustration and quickened his place out of the room. Since the dueling club, the rumor was that he was behind prettifying the Weasleys. At first, it was just people walking away from him, then it was glaring, now they had moved onto whispering behind his back._

 _No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, it was everywhere he went. He could sometimes hear his aunt and uncle laughing at him, saying this is what he deserves for being a freak. As much as it was difficult to go through, he was thankful he had his friends on his side, they believed him, and that was all that mattered._

" _What are you doing here?" A voice spoke breaking Harry out of his thoughts. He was so in deep thinking that he didn't notice where he was, or how he ended up here. He quieted his step, and put his books on the ground and leaned as close to the corner and looked around. He saw Percy Weasley standing in front of Daphne, and judging from the closed fits and angry look on his face, this wasn't a pleasant conversation._

" _None of your business Weasley." Daphne responded with a cold look on her face. Harry had spent so much time with Daphne that he'd forgotten the cold persona she excelled at showing, he was glad she was on his side._

" _It is my business, I'm a prefect and it's my duty to investigate odd behavior." Percy stated._

" _Odd behavior? I know you're a Weasley but use your brain, I'm just walking through." Daphne sneered._

 _Percy narrowed his eyes at the girl, Harry had never seen the redhead this angry, even when Fred and George pulled their antics on him during the summer._

" _Don't play innocent Greengrass, I know you're up to something, finding you in the classroom with my brother, then seeing you again with him yesterday. My brother would in no way willingly spend time around snakes, and I doubt you fancy him." Percy growled._

 _Harry was surprised to see Percy like this; of all Ron's brothers, he seemed the most behaved._

" _How I spend my time is none of your business, and don't disgust me, I would never fancy a heathen such as him, I've got better things to do." Daphne responded she seemed disgusting at the thought of fancying Ron._

 _Harry figured he listened in enough and decided to head to Gryffindor common room, it was getting late. He quietly walked away and was left wondering whether he should say something to Ron, or maybe talk to Daphne and tell her Percy is just angry that his brothers are petrified. He figured he should write it down to remember when he noticed his books weren't on him. He was busy listening in he'd forgotten he'd put his books down._

 _He ran back trying to get back quickly, it had been ten minutes since he walked away he figured Daphne and Percy were done talking by then. The lack of conversation as he made it back confirmed his thoughts. His books were where he left them and he picked it up. Out of curiosity, he looked around the same corner to see if either of them were still there. His eyes widen as he saw Percy, but just like his brothers, the redhead had a permanent look of shock on his face. Percy Weasley was petrified._

XXX

"When we all grouped up the day after, she didn't say anything. I thought she was nervous, but when I asked her the other night if she saw Percy she denied it." Harry explained.

A million thoughts were running through Hermione's mind, Greengrass not only saw Percy the night he was petrified, but she lied about it?

"Harry, are you suggesting Greengrass had something to do with Percy?" She asked carefully, this was a dangerous topic they were treading through.

Harry seemed to think about it for a few moments. "Honestly I'm not sure, it's been on my mind for a while, I want to say no but why would she lie about not seeing him?" Harry asked her.

Hermione nodded her head in agreement if she wasn't behind it why lie? She had an idea, she walked back over to her bag by the desk and motioned Harry to follow. She went through her bag and pulled out what she was looking for. It took her a few minutes to go through, she just had to be sure. Her suspicions were answered and curled her hands around the paper in anger.

"Hermione, what is it?" Harry finally asked when he noticed the angry look across her face.

"That liar!" Hermione shouted surprising Harry.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked concerned for his friend.

Hermione seemed ready to shout again, but one look Harry and she knew she needed to calm down, she took a deep breath and showed Harry the paper she was going through.

"Do you remember how Greengrass and I compiled criteria on who we believe the Heir is?" She asked him, Harry nodded. "Well she was adamant that she compile the list of suspects herself, I let her do so thinking nothing of it at the time, Merlin I was daft for that."

"Where are you going with this Hermione?" Harry wasn't sure what to make of it.

"She did it so we wouldn't compare it to her, Harry I just went through the list, every criteria we looked at, pureblood, noble family, strong connections in the government, and all the others fit Daphne perfectly." Hermione explained.

"But we thought the Heir couldn't be someone this young." Harry argued.

"And who do you think suggested that? Greengrass!" Hermione answered back. She felt daft for actually believing that Daphne was genuine in helping, she was just trying to cover her own tracks! She should've trusted her instincts on the Slytherin witch, she was right after all. She started to walk out the door, she needed to warn Scarlet before it was too late.

She felt a tug on her sleeve, looking behind her she saw Harry hold a grip on her.

"Harry let go! We need to help Scarlet." Hermione pleaded pulling her sleeve back, who knew how much time they had?

"Hermione we don't have any actual proof it's her if we don't have anything to back us up Scarlet won't believe us. Besides we don't know where the Slytherin common room is." Harry said hoping that she would see the logic.

As much as she wanted to fight him on this Hermione knew Harry was right. She had no idea where they were, and even if they did she knew from last year Scarlet wouldn't believe them without actual proof.

"We need a plan, Hermione." Harry stated.

Hermione knew they needed to be smart about this, if Daphne was the Heir or had some type of connection then they needed to use it to their advantage. "We stay quiet about this, she doesn't know that were suspecting her, that works in our favor. In the meantime, we can keep an eye on her with your cloak, and see if we can catch her in on the act." Hermione planned.

"What if she is though? She would be too powerful for us handle." Harry said worriedly.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, right now I'm improvising as we go." Hermione knew it wasn't the best idea, but they need to be patient with this, any wrong moves and they would share the same fate as Ron's brothers.

Harry seemed to agree with her plan and was about to say something when they heard the door open. Both of them looked over and saw Daphne and Scarlet. She smiled when she saw her friend wasn't harmed, but the serious look on his face was unnerving.

Scarlet closed the door behind them and they both walked over to where Harry and she were standing.

"How'd it go?" Harry was the first one to say something.

Scarlet and Greengrass looked at one another before he turned to speak to them. "This is far worse than we originally thought."

XXX

Scarlet caught up quickly to Daphne after they left Harry and Hermione in the classroom. The walk to Slytherins common room was quiet; they discussed at length their plan the past few days, and they knew what they were doing.

They soon reached a hallway Scarlet was unfamiliar with, he figured they must've been close. He looked over at Daphne expecting her to lead them to her common room, but she seemed reluctant. Scarlet figured it was because she didn't want him hearing the password, and see where the entrance was. He took a couple steps back and turned around.

"What are you doing?" Daphne asked behind him.

"Giving you privacy so you can unlock the entrance." Scarlet answered back. He could hear her sigh behind him, he frowned at her response.

"You can come back, I don't care about that." Daphne said.

Scarlet turned back and saw her giving him a look. "Then why do you seem unsure?"

Daphne looked over her shoulder. "What we're doing is really stupid, if we get caught it will end badly." She warned.

"Its okay, as weird as it is I think Snape doesn't mind me, he won't be too harsh."

"That's not what I mean." She said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Scarlet was confused about what she meant.

She looked down. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I know Slytherin has a reputation but I doubt they'll kill me." Scarlet joked, they may send him to the infirmary if caught but he was used to physical pain. His joke seemed to not go over well with her as she looked down and glared at him.

"They may not, but they'll do the next best thing." She stated. "But I don't want to see you get hurt." She finished.

Scarlet looked at her for a few moments, they didn't usually have deep conversations like this, normally they'd hurl jabs at one another trying to one-up the other. It was touching that she felt comfortable to be vulnerable around him, its moments like these that he valued his friendship with her.

He smiled back at her glaring face. "I won't get hurt okay, enough of this talk about me getting caught, I've held my metamorphmagus for hours I'll be fine. I promise." That seemed to make her happy as the glare faded, and she smiled at him.

"Good. Id hates to see you lose that pretty face of yours, it's all you have going for you." She said turning her smile into a sinister smirk.

"You think I'm pretty? I knew you secretly fancied me." He smirked back.

"Is that honestly all you took from that, you boys are daft." She shook her in amusement.

"I'm pretty, I don't need to be smart." He said striking a pose.

Daphne laughed at his antics shaking her head. "As much as I enjoy your intelligent rebuttals we don't want to be late."

"Well lead the way Greengrass." Motioned her to open the entrance.

She walked over to a certain section of the wall with him close behind. "Basilisk" she said, and on cue, Scarlet could hear something moving. Soon a small entrance opened up on the wall. He looked over at Daphne and nodded to her to reassure her everything would go fine.

She smiled back at him; he was about to walk inside when he noticed something grab his hand. Confused, he looked down and saw a hand clasped in his own, with their fingers interlocked with his. He looked back up and saw the owner of the hand was Daphne. Her face was red, and she seemed to avoid his stare.

"Um."

"I always hold my sister's hand." She said quickly interrupting him and started walking inside pulling him along.

Scarlet wasn't sure why she was like this, but it didn't matter, he shrugged his shoulders and just followed her lead.

Walking inside Scarlet had to hold back his reaction to seeing Slytherins common. He wasn't sure why but he'd always thought the common rooms were all the same, merely different color scheme, but as Gryffindors were warm and comfortable, Slytherins looked the exact opposite.

The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with stone walls and ceiling, from which round greenish lamps were hanging. The cold temperature matched the setting as Scarlet unconsciously pulled his sleeves down. Being located underneath the Great Lake must've had something to do with it.

Despite the length of the room all of the students were grouped together by a fireplace sitting on the couches and chairs. Daphne pulled him along towards them, and for the first time Scarlet started to get a little nervous, there was a lot of students, he figured the entire second year of Slytherins were there, minus the half-bloods, and muggle-born if there were any, along with some older students. It was a little comforting the fact he knew most of them, he'd actually had a fun time with them at Daphne's birthday. Playing Gob Stones with Crabbe and Goyle, helping fix Parkinson's hair clip after Malfoy accidentally broke it.

They found a small empty couch with two seats and sat down. Scarlet made sure to keep his eyes down, not wanting one of them to spark a conversation with him.

"Good of you to make it Greengrass, any longer and we thought you two wouldn't show up." Pansy was the first one to speak.

"Yes, Astoria was persistent on talking to her friends, you know all know how annoying little siblings can be." Daphne remarked causing everyone to laugh.

Scarlet glared at Daphne for the comment, he could tell she was enjoying this a little, knowing he couldn't argue back.

"Thank Merlin my parents only had one, a little brother would drive me crazy." Zabini joined in on the laughter.

"Merlin, tell that to the Weasels, those bunches are a poor excuse for a family, they might actually be decent if they didn't breed every year." Another student said, causing the laughter to increase.

Scarlet felt Daphne squeeze his hand; she gave him a quick look. Scarlet knew it was her saying to join a long, so he tried his best to force laughter out of him.

Eventually the conversation turned into a conversation of what presents everyone received from their respective families, a few were talking about new brooms, new robes, and even a few knick-knacks to entertain themselves with, it was another reminder that as much as Slytherin was depicted as a dark house, they were just as much children who enjoyed the same things as any other Gryffindor. Even it weren't for weren't for such a house division Scarlet figured Harry and Ron might be able to be friends with them. Scarlet glanced over at Theodore Nott and saw him bragging about his new robes brought in from Germany. _'I guess friends with only some of them.'_

Soon footsteps were heard echoing across the room, everyone stopped the conversation they were having and looked toward a hallway leading to the dorms. Soon the boy who brought them all together came into view, Scarlet took a few breaths to calm himself down, everything they were working towards was leading them to this, they may actually find out what's going on.

One of the first things Scarlet noticed was the way he was walking over to them. Most of the students in Slytherin had a certain degree of arrogance to them, their parents telling them how better they were than an ordinary wizard because of their blood status. Malfoy was no different, head up, long strides, a smirk on his face, and a certain aura that he was in control. Today was no different, but the aura around him felt palpable. As if he knew something that everyone else didn't and that put him in a better position.

This had to be serious Scarlet figured. Even before it was announced Malfoy was the new seeker on the Quidditch he didn't look like this. No, whatever Malfoy knew and was about to tell them was far more significant than Quidditch.

The blonde walked until he was in front of all of them standing in front of the fireplace. He looked around at all of them, looking them in the eye, his eyes settled on him, and Scarlet gave his best neutral face he could, showing no emotion at all. Malfoy soon moves on and looked at Daphne, and then finished seemingly satisfied with what he saw.

"Everyone is here, you don't know it yet, but you all just made the best decision in your life." Draco stated happily.

"Why are we here Malfoy? I stayed in school for this, it better be good." Nott said.

"Quiet Nott, your father must've taught you about knowing your place." Malfoy fired back, it worked as Nott didn't say anything, but glared back.

Malfoy smirked at this. "As you know, I asked you all here for a reason." He started to walk around all of them. "For too long we've been looked down upon by mud-bloods, and blood traitors, why? Because this is our home and they feel threatened by it." No one said anything as Malfoy began talking, he looked over and saw he had everyone's attention. "When the Dark Lord fell, they felt justified in taking what was rightfully ours." A few heads started nodding at this. "Our homes were taken, our gold, our reputation was tarnished." Murmurs of agreement started to be heard, Scarlet could feel Daphne squeeze his hand.

"As much as we agree with you Malfoy, what point are you making? We already know all this." Zabini interrupted, a few others agreeing with him.

Malfoy smiled at him, a genuine smile at that. "I'm glad you asked. What if I could tell you this can change. That we can take back everything that is rightfully ours." He walked back to the center of the room. "As you all know there's been a rumor. That Harry Potter is the Heir of Slytherin." He paused to gauge everyone's reaction, most looked disgusted by that fact, others looked genuinely concerned. "I can tell you those are false."

"How do you know that?" Parkinson asked

"Because I'm working with the one true heir." He smirked at her.

Scarlet's eyes widened at that. _'This can't true.'_ The criteria they had in place made Malfoy a potential match, but he's only twelve years old. Another thought then occurred to him. Malfoy mentioned working with them, not that he's the heir. He could feel himself about to ask that when he felt Daphne ask first.

"You're working with the Heir? Here I thought you were the mighty Heir of Slytherin, just from the way you were gloating at the message written in blood." She said.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes at that "As much pleasure I would've taken to be the Heir, sadly I'm not."

"Why say that to us, if any of the teachers even suspect you then you'd be expelled faster than we can say Slytherin." Daphne responded crossing her arms.

"Like I told you, all of you have an opportunity has presented itself to us. The Heir wants all pureblood to be on top of the wizarding world, but he needs us to do it. Followers who will spread his message and influence for him, and in return he'll give us whatever we so desire." Mafloy spoke, it unnerved Scarlet how calmly he sounded, like this wasn't a script being read, Draco fully believed everything he said.

"Sounds like a fairy tale, the only wizard capable of what you are saying was the Dark Lord, and he's dead. You telling me this wannabe wants to replace him?" Bulstrode asked.

"She's right, since his passing numerous dark wizards have tried to take his mantle, and all have failed. What makes this pureblood any different?" Zabini demanded. Everyone murmured in agreement.

"Because my naïve friends, he's already attacked those he feels are against him. He's petrified three blood traitors and in the most protected building in all of Britain Hogwarts, not even that old fool Dumbledore has managed to find him, and the Heir is lurking in this school as we speak. The heir isn't even at full power, once he petrifies enough students he'll make his presence known and he will kill anyone who's not with him." Malfoy then walked closer to Zabini looking him in the eye. "Does that make him different?" He asked.

Zabini was at a loss of words, he looked at everyone hoping for some sign of back up, but no one stepped in. He took a few breaths and nodded his head-shakingly.

Malfoy smiled at the answer. "Good. I'm here today on behalf of the heir to find students who want to be a part of our new world order." He walked back to the center of the room. "Who's in?" He asked simply.

Scarlet looked at everyone, no one seemed sure what to do, it all sounded like it was made up. He felt no one would actually take Malfoy on his offer, everyone here weren't his or her parents. They didn't actually care about killing or petrifying or even ruling the world so to speak, they were just kids.

He wasn't surprised when Malfoys bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle stepped forward, they'd do anything the blond asked of them. Soon Parkinson stood up as well. "I'll always stand with you Draco. Those mudbloods will pay!" Pansy affirmed. Again, not too surprising, Parkinson was rumored to have a crush on him, but then more students started to stand.

"We won't be stuck under those blood traitors heels!"

"Death to mudbloods!"

"We will take back what is ours!"

More and more students stood in support, and Scarlet had to hold his reaction, what they were saying, this kind of hatred towards anyone who wasn't a pureblood was shocking. He knew they were influenced to think of purebloods are better, but to willingly join a cause that wants to kill people, how could they be influenced this much?

Soon everyone had stood up in support, everyone but himself and Greengrass. Malfoy was staring at them. "Well, Greengrass what do you say?"

Scarlet looked over and saw Daphne give no visible reaction to Malfoys question. He knew her well enough to know she was purposely hiding her genuine reaction, and keeping a neutral persona. She soon looked towards him and nodded before standing up and pulling him up too.

"On behalf of my sister and I of House Greengrass, we will stand by House Malfoy, and the new world order." She proclaimed. Malfoy smiled at her answer, clearly pleased everyone had joined his cause. He motioned for everyone to sit back down.

"I'm pleased you made the right decision, now we can move forward with our plan." He motioned to Crabbe to bring him something, Crabbe caught off guard nearly tripped running to a nearby table, he grabbed a parchment and quill and brought it over and handed it to Malfoy. "The Heir has requested as a group who we feel should be petrified next, he feels we should be able to pick students who would cause the most panic if found petrified….or dead." A sinister smile formed on his lips.

"You keep referring to the Heir as a male? Do you know who _he_ is?" Daphne asked completely avoiding what he just said.

Malfoy twitched his eye. "I don't." He said through clenched teeth. "Of course _he_ is a man! No woman can pose the fear and power he posses. Now back to busi-"

"Your aunt LeStrange does." Zabini interrupted.

Scarlet could see Malfoy start to get annoyed that the conversation wasn't going the way he wanted. "Because she is from the great and noble family of Black. Why do you think the Heir sought me out as his partner? Because he sees me as a powerful wizard in the making." He gloated. "Now back to the task at hand."

Everyone seemed in the thought of whom to choose, a few seemed apprehensive of saying a name, knowing whomever they select would be hurt. Scarlet didn't know whether he wanted Hermione's name to be said or not if it was then they could easily protect her, but if not then someone else would be in danger.

"How about we finish off the rest of the Weasleys?" Nott said breaking the silence. "Their father conducted surprise raids on my home last summer and your homes as well. They took our family heirlooms and sold them off for galleons!" He sneered pounding his fist on the armrest of the chair he was sitting on.

"Excellent choice Nott." Malfoy agreed. "But we need at least one mudblood, they have to know that they don't belong here, and will suffer the consequences for it."

"How about Granger?" A third-year Slytherin suggested.

"Yeah, Granger! That mudblood is constantly showing off in class, the rest of the mudbloods would be too scared to do anything if she was gone." Parkinson nodded agreeing with the name.

Scarlet could feel his heart stop when he heard his friend's name being suggested to be petrified, or worse killed. He knew she wasn't very likable in Slytherin, but to go as far as wanting her dead, maybe Ron and Harry were right about their feelings toward the green house. _'How could I've misjudged the Slytherin students this much?'_ He badly wanted to stop this idea of forming, maybe if he threw someone else name then Hermione could be safe, he just had to try. He leaned forward to say someone else's name, he didn't care who's just someone who he didn't care about, but he felt Daphne tug him back to his seat. She glared at him silently mouthing to him to not do anything stupid. He glared back at her ready to challenge her but didn't get the chance.

"Excellent, I'll bring these names to the heir." He wrought down Ron, Ginny, and Hermione's name on a parchment, and folded it and put it in his pocket.

"How is the Heir even going to attack them? Everyone's on edge from the previous attacks. The teachers are patrolling the halls every day." A student asked.

"You underestimate the Heir, just because he hasn't reached his full power doesn't mean he's powerless. He has a map of the school that displays the location of everyone in Hogwarts, once one of the three is alone, he'll strike before they can even breathe." Malfoy explained.

Scarlet gave Greengrass a look, whoever this Heir is they are a lot more trouble than the Shadow Alliance earlier thought. To be able to trace them where ever they are made them very powerful. They needed to warn their friends. They both stood up ready to leave.

"Thank you for inviting us Malfoy, you have given me and my sister hope on a brighter future for all us pureblood." She lied convincingly to the blonde.

"You won't regret it, none of you will." He said.

Daphne and he soon left the Slytherin common room and into the hallway. They didn't say anything for a few minutes before Scarlet felt they were safely away; he pulled his hand away and glared at her.

"Why did you stop me? Now Hermione's in danger." Scarlet said angrily.

"Because you were going to do something stupid." She said simply, not even showing anger at his outburst.

"Saving my friend, your alliance member isn't stupid." Scarlet answered back, crossing his arms.

"There's nothing you could've said that would've changed their minds, they all hate Hermione very much, and you picking someone else would've raised suspicion."

Scarlet knew she was right, Hermione had rubbed a lot of Slytherin students the wrong way, for him to not agree with everyone would've aroused suspicion. He stepped away from Greengrass and put his head down in thought. Last year he wouldn't have made a stupid mistake like that, he would've thought through all his actions. He mentally scoffed that he had changed that much in less than a year.

"Don't beat yourself too much Scarlet, your actions, as stupid as they were, are very noble. Sticking by your friend even if it makes you a target is comforting, I'm glad you proved me wrong and showed me how much we need one another." She sympathized stepping closer to him.

It was then he realized he only changed because it was for his friends. He may not be the same as he was or make as logical decisions as he used to because he was being fueled by his emotions and his friends. He was being a better person, Tonks would want this. He smiled back at Greengrass. "Thanks, I needed that."

"Your welcome, I'll always be there to remind you when you're about to do something idiotic. Which is a lot." She teased.

"Prat." He laughed, followed by Daphne. "Come on, we need to hurry back and warn them on what's going on."

XXX

The room was silent. Daphne and Scarlet had just explained to Hermione and Harry what happened earlier and to say they weren't taking it well would be an understatement. Hermione had sat down on a nearby desk and seemed ready to cry. Scarlet couldn't blame her, hearing a bunch of people wanted to hurt you wouldn't make anyone feel good. He walked over and sat beside trying to give her some sort of comfort.

Harry was the opposite, he looks furious like he wanted to march over to Malfoy and hurt him just as much as he hurt his friends.

"There's something else, you all need to know." Greengrass said though she looked a bit nervous. "This is exactly how He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named rose to power all those years ago. He had Malfoy senior recruit purebloods from Slytherin house on his behalf."

"How do you know this?" Harry asked, if Scarlet didn't know any better he would think there was a bit of an accusation in his tone, but thought Harry was just angry at the news they brought to him, and shrugged it off.

"Because that's how my parents were approached as well, they were a few years younger. Whoever this Heir is, they are replicating the Dark Lords action step by step, my guess is that they were a follower and now trying to make their mark since their master is dead." Everyone felt another weight fall on their shoulders at Daphne's theory, this was becoming more troublesome by the minute.

"I know this is troubling for both of you to hear but we need to focus and come up with a plan." Daphne continued speaking.

"Easy for you to say, you don't have an angry mob wanting you dead." Hermione stood by furious at the lack of empathy coming from Greengrass.

"Well crying about it won't change anything." Daphne shot back walking over to the brunette, both looked ready to pull out their wands and hex one another.

Scarlet and Harry soon stepped in front of them and pulled them back. "Can you two quit arguing for 2 seconds, how can we fight the Heir when were fighting each other." Scarlet said annoyed at their arguing.

Both looked embarrassed at being scolded, they muttered an apology and stepped back to him and Potter.

"We should tell the teachers about this, Dumbledore should be able to do something about this." Hermione suggested, it was a logical suggestion, the professors were more suited to handling this, however, there was one problem.

"We don't have any proof, you heard the rumors spreading around Hogwarts everyone has a theory on who the Heir is, nothing we say would separate us from that." Scarlet reasoned. Last year he had advocated involving the teachers right away, but with all the rumors and lies spreading they wouldn't be able to take them seriously.

"I'll be petrified next if we don't do something. If this map is real it would only be a matter of time." Hermione panicked, she looked ready to break down. Scarlet's mind was working double time, there had to be something they could do.

"Not if we stick together." Daphne suggested.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Malfoy said the Heir would attack once you or the Weasleys once you are alone. So what if we stayed in small groups?"

"That might work, but wouldn't we just be endangering everyone around us?" Harry reasoned.

"Not if we pair the targets with someone the Heir would have no interested in petrifying. Harry, Ron, and Tracey could be one group, everyone thinks Harry is the Heir, it would be beneficial to not attack you, and Tracey no matter her blood status is still a Slytherin." Daphne then walked over to Hermione and sighed. "Granger and I can be another pair."

"Won't students find it odd you two are suddenly spending time together?" Scarlet asked unsure of this group.

"Don't forget Professor McGonagall has a transfiguration project coming up after the holidays, I'll say she forced me to work with Granger, no one would argue with that logic." Scarlet had to admit it was a sound reasoning; he was worried that Daphne and Hermione would kill each other before the Heir could. Infact, he doubted Hermione was up for this plan.

"Yes! Excellent idea." Hermione said. Scarlet was taken aback by this, she was agreeing and seemed oddly eager to be spending more time with Daphne? A look at Harry and he seemed happy with the idea also. _'What the heck is wrong with those two?'_ Scarlet thought to himself.

"Where does your plan leave me?" Scarlet was unsure where he would be in this the plan.

"Ginny is the only one that's truly vulnerable, she's in a younger year than us, can't defend herself and doesn't have the same class schedule." Daphne explained.

"So if she is attacked, at least I'll be there to defend her." Scarlet finished.

"Exactly. Out of everyone here you're the most capable of handling trouble, the dueling club is a fine example of that." She praised.

"At the same time we'll be following Malfoy closely, trying to find any proof we can bring to the professors, I have a way of sneaking by without getting caught." Harry joined in, eluding to his invisibility cloak.

"Remind me if I'm wrong but didn't Malfoy catch you, Granger, and Weasley sneaking past curfew?" Daphne reminded him.

Harry groaned at this. "It won't happen again." He simply stated.

Daphne smirked at him "Don't worry potter I'm pulling your mickey."

Scarlet couldn't help but smile at this, seemed the Ice Queen's walls were slowly melting. He heard Hermione laughing at the comment, it seemed to have a plan in place made her feel a little better, Scarlet was happy for this, they'd need her if they would survive. He was just thankful they were now coming together, they would need each other the next few months more than anything. He just hoped they would be able to escape this year with all of them making it. He just couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was wrong.

XXX

The last student finally left the common room leaving Malfoy alone. He was very pleased right now, the meeting was a major success, everyone had fallen in line to his new pureblood order, the Heir would be pleased their plan was working well.

When his father hears about this he will be so proud of him, finally, he'd proven he could be worthy of the name Malfoy. All his life his father told him how much of an honor it was to serve the Dark Lord, that it gave him purpose, power, and anything he wanted. It was one of the rare times his father spoke at great length without becoming annoyed by his presence. His father spent most of the time managing their estate and wealth, along with his position in the Wizengamot, and hardly made much time for him. So when Draco first brought up the topic of serving the Dark Lord upon noticing the dark mark he saw his father smile and told him stories of his time as a Death Eater. It made him wish that he could've taken the dark mark and stand right beside his father, as equals.

When he first encountered the Heir he was so scared by the raw power radiating off of him, but then he gave Malfoy the opportunity to prove himself, to serve him as his father did before him. Months later he was serving as the Heirs equal, soon their plan would come to fruition, and the entire population of Hogwarts would be crushed under his heel. He'd finally earn his fathers respect, and finally, be seen as an equal in his eyes.

The flames flickered on and off, he felt a chilling presence appear behind him, he turned around and found the Heir sitting on one of the seats by the fireplace. The Heir always had a flair for dramatic entrances.

" **How did it go?** " He asked staring at the fire.

Malfoy walked over and sat across from him. "You'll be pleased to know that everyone has agreed to pledge their loyalty to us."

" **Excellent, by the time that old fool realizes my presence, he'll have most of the school against him."** The Heir laughed at this development.

"What's next?" Malfoy asked.

" **You will continue gathering followers for me, the more on our side, the harder for the rest of purebloods to be to resist us.** " The Heir explained standing up. " **Who did you all choose for me to target?** "

Malfoy handed the parchment that had the names of the people they wanted to get rid off. The Heir took it from his hands and read off the names. " **Soon the world will rue the day it turned against us.** " Malfoy heard the heir mutter to itself, he wasn't sure what he meant but shrugged it off.

"What will you be doing while I recruit more followers." He asked.

The heir looked down at him and a cruel smile formed on his face. " **I think its time I pay mister Potter a visit he'll never forget.** "

 **Authors Note:** **Wow, it has been awhile. Sorry for that, but a week after my last chapter I got hired at a company, juggling that with my other job and school meant not as much free time. Was happy to finally get this out, hopefully, can start getting chapters out faster.**

 **In terms of story, we'll come back after the holiday break, the story will pick up the pace. The Alliance knows about the heir now, expect them to come face to face soon, and it won't end up pretty.**

 **Also had the time to reflect back on my first few chapters, and can't help but cringe a little. I think in terms of displaying Scarlet's intelligence I might have made him seem a little OC, I'll make a small edit on the first chapter but will keep it the same.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling**

Within the Shadows Ch 8

 _As I traversed through the dark forest, I kept my wits on me. One could never be too careful when your life is on the line, wand at the helm, and a powerful bone breaking curse read to chant I carefully walked through the most dangerous place known to man._

 _The dreaded Red forest located in the heart of Australia is not known to many as most who enter don't come out. But when the Minister personally requests your services one does not cower in fear. The Minister had asked, no begged of me to retrieve a stolen artifact taken by one of the most feared dark wizards of the country._

 _I heard a twig snap to my right, I aimed my wand in the direction and fired off the bone breaking curse, I know it hit as the howl of a dark beast roared in pain, then falling in defeat. I heard others run, clearly in fear of the power I showcased._

 _Just as I was about to continue I heard a dark chuckle echo throughout the forest._

" _You scare off animals pretty well, but let us see what you can do against the most powerful wizard in all of Australia." A voice said before I could blink a dark figure landed ten feet away from me._

 _I narrowed my eyes at the new challenger; it was just as I suspected Jason the Jack Ripper, an infamous reputation of twenty counts of murder, and never be defeated, until today._

" _You'll find yourself regretting those words, I'll give you one chance to surrender to the great Gilderoy Lockhart!" I fired my wand a giant tree knocking it over. "See what I did to that tree, imagine what I would do to you, give up!"_

 _I could see the confidence in Jason's eyes lighten, clearly, he'd thought I was a run of the mill wizard, he was just now learning of my power. A look of shock was soon replaced by anger. "We'll see about that, Avada Kedavra!" A green light emitted from his wand and flew towards me, but I wasn't scared I knew of the perfect way to combat the unforgivable curse._

 _Just as the curse was about to hit as I raised my wand and yelled._

XXX

 **Sigh**

Scarlet's eye twitched in irritation, as another sigh was heard right beside him. He snapped the book shut and looked at the culprit. Hermione sat beside him writing Merlin knows what, she emitted another sigh and he had to use any control he had left to not visibly react.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" He asked through clenched teeth, hoping this issue would be worth his attention.

Hermione put down the quill she was writing with and looked at him. "Nothing, just parchment, and quills are quite frustrating to use at times, I should talk to Professor McGonagall about implementing pens and paper, much more practical." She said eyeing her quill.

Scarlet had to hold back his groan; of course, it would be over something ridiculous. Hermione in the past few weeks had been grating on his nerves, especially over her S.P.E.W initiative which hadn't made much traction. Aside from her friends, very few students had given her much attention, aside from Neville and a couple muggle-borns.

"Well can you not sigh over it every thirty seconds, I'm trying to enjoy professor Lockhart's newest book." I said motioning towards my novel. A hurt look came over Hermione's face; Scarlet closed his eyes in frustration. "I'm sorry, I'm just grumpy today." Scarlet apologized feeling a little guilty.

"Its okay, I know it hasn't been easy on everyone for the past few weeks." Hermione sympathized patting his arm.

It was the truth; they hadn't made much progress since they enacted their plan to gather evidence on the heir. Every time Harry had followed Malfoy after class with the invisibility cloak it didn't lead to anywhere. The lack of progress was grating on everyone's nerves. The only benefit was that no one had been petrified either in weeks, their idea to stick together had thwarted their plan so far, but Scarlet knew it wouldn't be long.

Ron was upset that his brothers were still petrified, and they didn't know much about the Heir, Daphne and Hermione were at each others throat every time they were together which was a lot, that in turn resulted in Tracey getting annoyed at the constant drama involving her best friend, and lastly Harry was getting tired of the rumors behind his back.

Though it wasn't a contest Scarlet figured he had it the worst as the nightmares were happening almost every day. They weren't even the same one, a different one each night and each time waking up relieving a different scar. The lack of sleep was catching up to him, and that was making him irritable, short-tempered, and falling asleep at random intervals during the day.

To make things worse since the start of classes he had been spending most of his time out of class following Ginny, she seemed really angry at him and had tried several times to lose him in the hallways, but she wasn't quick enough. When she was with her brother he'd back off and do something on his own, or morph his appearance making her think he wasn't following her. Point being this wasn't helping him relax, and was causing more stress on him.

"Yes, I-" Scarlet paused to yawn. "Sorry, would've thought we would have made some progress." He finished sipping a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Scarlet are you okay? You seem tired." Hermione asked.

"Yes, just tired. So how's S.P.E.W going?" he asked trying to change the subject.

"Scarlet I know you're trying to change the subject, and I know you haven't been sleeping well." Hermione saw through the defense tactics Scarlet was trying to employ, she wouldn't fall for it this time.

"Just had trouble sleeping for a few days, probably just school work piling up." Scarlet replied casually. It clearly wasn't the right thing to say as Hermione was still giving him the same look.

"Scarlet please be honest with me. I know its not just a few days, it's more weeks." She said quietly. Scarlet looked at her in confusion wondering how the heck she knew that. He did not want to talk about this, he was tired, grumpy, and that was not a recipe for a heart to heart, he had to get out of there.

Quickly standing up, he packed up his things. "Sorry, Hermione I just remembered Bell wanted to talk to me." Scarlet said quickly running off before Hermione could say something.

He got to the entrance of the Great Hall before running into Harry, Ron, and Ginny. He nodded hello to them and tried to sidestep them before a loud voice stopped him. "Happy Valentines Day Hogwarts!"

Gilderoy Lockhart stood up and walked to the main podium. "As most of you are aware there's been a very dark cloud settled over our school, and I have taken the grave burden of trying to brighten up your day. That is why I have decorated the great hall." Lockhart motioned with his arms to the red decorations covering the Great Hall.

' _Ah yes, Valentine's day, how could I forget? I mean it's not like last year Tonks took great delight in embarrassing me by giving me a giant heart-shaped picture of her covered in flowers and professing her undying love for me.'_ He still got teased over it from time to time by students, even Dumbledore had a good chuckle over it the last time they talked.

Lockhart clapped his hands and poof an army of Dwarves appeared, dressed in ridiculous pink outfits. Scarlet feared this might top last year. "Each of these dwarves has a valentines card addressed by each of you and will deliver them to you right now." He heard Ginny squeak behind him, and on cue, the dwarves started marching over to them.

Scarlet did not want to deal with this, as some of the dwarves started to march over to them he took a step back to stay away. Unfortunately, Harry was right behind and he stumbled a bit. The dwarves quickly reached them and soon all four of them were surrounded. "Bloody hell!" Ron yelled trying to stay away from them.

"Harry please accept this!"

"Harry someone wants your love!"

"Please accept my rose!"

They were all trying to give Harry a valentine's card. "Merlin Harry why do you have so many admirers." Scarlet yelled over the dwarf's voices.

"I thought everyone hated me." Harry answered back trying to fight his way through the crowd, unfortunately, one of the dwarves trying to reach him pushed past Ron causing him to fall. Grabbing on to the closest thing he could reach, that being his sister, causing her to tumble as well. Scarlet tried to help her up but a dwarf pushed him from behind causing him to fall forward into Harry causing them to fall on top of the Weasley siblings.

Happy that the dwarves had accomplished their mission scattered to deliver the rest of their cards. Leaving the four Gryffindor's tangled on the ground, much to the laughter of the surrounding students.

"I hate Valentine's day." Scarlet mumbled sitting up.

"Me too." Harry joined in rubbing his head.

"Me three." Ron joined in. "I didn't realize you had so many people who liked you. Harry."

"Ginny are you okay?" Scarlet asked the redhead.

"Ye, yeah, I'm fine." She said quietly standing up. The poor girl's face was red, clearly, she was embarrassed to be in the middle of that.

Scarlet was about to stand up but noticed piles of books across the floor, a quick glance to their book bags confirmed they fell out when they were pushed down. All four walked over collecting their books. He was about to stand up again when he saw one book left on the ground, picking it up he noticed it looked a bit old, it had a black cover and was torn in a few places.

"Harry, is this yours?" Scarlet asked waving the book in his vision.

"No, never seen that before, Ron?" Harry responded shaking his head and looking at his mate." Ron shook his head as well.

Scarlet frowned at this, it didn't belong to them that only left Ginny. He looked around to ask the girl if it belonged to her but she was nowhere to be seen. It was at this time Hermione walked over to them.

"Are you all alright, you looked like you took a nasty fall." She asked concerned for them.

"Were fine Hermione just slightly dirty, were trying to figure out who owns that book." Harry pointed to the book in Scarlet's hand. He handed it over and she opened it and looked through it.

"Its definitely old, but the pages are blank so it hasn't been used, odd." She explained to herself going through it. She shut the book and glanced over the cover. "Here we are, a name." She announced pointing to a section of the cover. "Tom Marvolo Riddle." She read, she looked up at them. "Do any of you know who Tom Marvolo Riddle is? I don't remember a Gryffindor with that name."

Scarlet tried to remember if he heard that name before, but came up blank, he looked at both of the boys, Ron shook his head no, but Harry seemed to be staring hard at it. He then got a look of recognition as his eyes widen at something. "I think I know where I've seen the name before come on." He ran out motioning them to follow, Hermione and Ron quickly left after them and he followed as well.

It wasn't long before they stood in front of a trophy case, filled with honors awarded to Hogwarts students throughout the schools lifetime. Scarlet was confused why they were standing here. Harry quickly walked over and seemed to be skimming through each award looking for something.

"There! I knew I've seen his name before." He said pointed to a certain award. All of them gathered around to see what Harry was pointing at.

"Highest school honor awarded to Tom Marvolo Riddle." Ron read out loud. "Wait a minute, this was given fifty years ago."

"Excellent deduction Ronald I even didn't notice that." Hermione praised, not taking her eyes off the award. "How did you know this Harry?" She said finally taking her eyes off it.

"Last year in detention, Lockhart had me hand polish all the awards, guess it just stuck to me." Harry said rubbing the back of his head.

"Why would a diary from a student fifty years ago be here? Just popped out of nowhere." Scarlet was a little unsettled by this; it was too odd that they just stumbled over a journal that belonged to someone a long time ago.

"I'm going to go to the library to pick up some books and then head to the empty classroom in the dungeons to find out who this Tom Riddle is, maybe even write a letter to Tonks, she may have some connections in the Auror Academy. You three try to find out who dropped it, they may know something as well." This Tom Riddle probably didn't lead them to anything new, but they needed this distraction. Selfishly Scarlet wanted to use this as an excuse to be alone.

"Scarlet I'll come with you." Hermione said the look on her face said she would not be taking no for an answer.

Scarlet was reaching his limit on how much he could take, part of the reason he wanted to go to the library was to be alone, he needed that time to compress before he took out his frustration on someone.

"Hermione I would appreciate doing this by myself." He said trying to maintain his composure.

"But"

"Please." Scarlet said giving her a hard look. It was tense for a few moments as Hermione wasn't used to seeing her friend act this way. Harry and Ron both looked uncomfortable with the situation and didn't know what to do.

"Come on Hermione lets look more into this in the common room." Ron said gently pulling her along.

Hermione kept staring at Scarlet, he thought she might say no and follow him, but she turned around and followed Ron. Harry stayed behind for a few moments looking at Scarlet before walking off.

He knew he would have to apologize for his behavior but right now he was just too stressed out. He let go of the breath he had subconsciously been holding and turned around to head to the library.

XXX

"That idiotic boy, why must he be so stubborn. Always with the secrets, and always difficult to open up with." Hermione ranted the minute they walked in the common room.

The few students who were in the common room quickly left, Harry was used to it by this point, hardly anyone wanted to be in the same room as him, even the students in his own house.

They eventually walked over to an isolated corner of the room, where he put the mysterious book on the table and opened it to a random page.

"Blimey Hermione, if he doesn't want to talk, forcing him to won't do anything." Ron said, fed up with his friend.

"Are you daft Ronald, look at him! He looks like he was about to pass out, there's something eating away at him, he needs to share what's going on. You even said you were worried about him." Hermione fired back, angry that he wasn't agreeing with her.

"Are you listening to yourself? Just because it makes sense to you don't mean it's the right idea." Ron replied he was starting to get frustrated over this.

"And what's that supposed to mean!?" Hermione argued taking a step forward, invading Ron's personal space.

"That you aren't always right, and Scarlet can do whatever he thinks is right!" Ron shouted slamming his hand on the table, causing the table to shake. An unopened bottle of ink shook on impact and toppled over spilling all over the table including the book.

"Ron you idiot." Hermione said pulling out her wand, Harry quickly grabbed the book off the table, just as Hermione cleaned the table with a spell. She was about to do the same thing to the book in his hands when she paused.

Harry paused too, when he looked at what was happening. He thought at first the ink was seeping into the pages, but looking closer it just disappeared. Once it was all gone he flipped through all the pages expecting to see the ink hiding in a random page, but it was perfectly clean as if nothing was spilled on it.

Harry shared a look with Ron and Hermione hoping they had some sort of answer but they both seemed perplexed as well. "Is this normal for books in the wizarding world?" Harry asked.

"Not that I've ever seen, most books you have to clean with magic, never seen one do it by itself, brilliant." Ron said shaking his head, Harry figured this was the first time Ron was ever this interested in a book.

"I've never read about anything like this, though something like this can theoretically be possible with the magic we've seen before." Hermione commented, not taking her eyes off the book.

Harry mulled over what they both said, this just kept getting more and more interesting. "What if there is writing in this book, and it disappeared just like the ink?" Harry suggested.

"Only one way to find out." Ron said excited by this, he walked over and grabbed a quill and handed it to Harry.

He took the quill and sat down at the desk, he opened the book to the first page. Holding the quill just above the page he gave one final look to his friends, silently asking them if they should do this. Hermione seemed a bit reluctant but nodded anyway; Ron meanwhile seemed all in to find out more about this book. With one last sigh, he wrote down the first thing that came to mind.

"My name is Harry Potter" He wrought out loud. Just like with the ink spill it quickly vanished, he was about to sigh at the idiocy of his idea before something popped out.

" _Hello Harry Potter, my name is Tom Riddle_ " The new message read. Hermione had to cover her mouth as she gasped in surprised, Ron's eyes widen at the greeting.

Soon the messaged disappeared, and Hermione quickly motioned for Harry to write something else. "Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?" he wrought next.

It soon disappeared and was replaced by " _Yes._ "

" _Finally!_ " Harry thought to himself, they were finally making progress on the chamber. Both of his friends were just as excited as he was and they moved around till they were reading over his shoulders. "Can you tell me?" He responded, hoping the book would be forthcoming.

" _No_ " It quickly responded, much to the disappointment of the trio.

"Worth a try." Ron mumbled moving back.

Harry leaned back in his chair annoyed that another opportunity lead them nowhere, and was about to close the book when Tom Riddle responded. " _But I can show you._ "

Before any of them could think of how a book would be able to show them, a bright light started to Emanate from the book. Soon it became too bright to even see and Harry had to use his sleeve to shield his eyes.

By the time the light show ended, Hermione and Ron were just able to make out their surroundings, just as they were about to ask Harry what happened, they noticed he was gone.

XXX

Hermione quickly ran around the common room looking for her friend. "He isn't here Ron!" She cried running back over to him.

"He didn't go through the main entrance." He said looking at the still closed door. He walked over to the now closed book. "Where the bloody hell did he go?"

Hermione walked carefully back to the book, the source of the light. "Ron, you don't suppose…?" She didn't want to finish the statement just based on how absurd it sounded to her.

"What? You really think he's in the book? Don't be barmy Hermione, there's no such thing as a book that sucks people in." Ron said looking at her as if she was crazy.

"Well, I don't see you proposing any ideas on where Harry went." Hermione snapped back, that seemed to quiet down the redhead. "Before Harry disappeared the book, or Tom Riddle said it could show Harry something. This is certainly not a normal magical book." She continued.

"Let's say he is in there, what do we do? We can't just wait here for something to happen, maybe we can get Dumbledore to suck him right out." Ron suggested, he seemed uncomfortable of the idea of his friend being stuck in there, sentiments Hermione agreed with.

"I don't know Ron, maybe we shou-" Whatever Hermione was about to say was cut off as the book flared to life and opened by itself once again summoning a bright light. Both of them shielded their eyes, they heard something heavy land close to them and soon the light stopped.

Once her sight came back Hermione was able to see her friend back sitting where he was originally.

For a moment none of them spoke, all unsure what to say. "Did I just…" Harry started to ask.

"Yup!" Ron said rubbing his eyes.

"What happened Harry, you were gone for a few minutes." Hermione asked carefully stepping towards him.

"A few minutes?" Harry said his brow creasing. "Felt like it was an hour maybe longer." He seemed to be contemplating something for a few moments before speaking again.

"It was strange, it felt real, but it wasn't real." That just further confused Hermione and Ron. " I was in a hallway, in Hogwarts, but it seemed to be set years ago." Harry continued.

"How could you tell?" Ron asked.

"Because I saw Dumbledore, he looked a lot different, definitely younger." Harry pointed out. "The diary definitely belonged to Tom Riddle, he or it was showing moments through his point of view. I could even touch or see other people within range, I think it was a memory." A frown formed on Harry's face. "A student died, and it sounded like it was because of the Chamber of Secrets."

"How can that be, the chamber was said to be a myth if it was opened before more people wouldn't consider it fiction." Ron logically pointed out, he along with the rest of them was perplexed by this.

"I don't know if the Chamber had anything to do with it, but Tom felt it did, enough so he confronted who he felt was responsible for opening it." Harry said.

"Who did he suspect? Maybe we can go to the library and do some research on them." Hermione asked.

That caused Harry to laugh nervously at her, she frowned at that. "What's so funny?"

"Because Tom felt Hagrid opened the chamber." Hermione couldn't stop her mouth from dropping in shock at what Harry said.

"Blimey Harry, our gamekeeper wouldn't hurt anyone." Ron said, shocked anyone would think Hagrid was that evil.

"I know it doesn't sound possible, but when Riddle confronted Hagrid he denied it, but seemed to be hiding something behind him, a creature I think. He started acting suspicious, and eventually Tom grew tired and attacked what was behind him." Harry explained.

"What was it?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head at her. "I didn't get a good look, it was very quick, but whatever it was Dumbledore wouldn't have been very happy to find it. In fact I think this is why Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts all those years ago."

"What do we do now?" Hermione asked. "Should we talk to Hagrid about this?"

"I don't know, maybe we should…." Harry paused suddenly at this; he seemed to be thinking something over. His eyes widen at something and he nervously looks back at the two of them. "Where did Scarlet say he was going again?"

"To the dungeons why?" Hermione asked unsure of what Harry was thinking.

"We need to go now!" Harry jumped off his seat and ran towards the exit. Hermione and Ron didn't have time to figure out what spooked Harry so much and followed after him.

XXX

It didn't take long for them to reach the dungeons, they received a few odd looks from students looking at them running down the halls, but that was the least of their concerns.

The first thing they noticed was that the hallways were empty, normally there'd be a few students walking around, maybe even a prefect, but there was no one.

"Everyone is scared of being petrified that they mostly stay in their common rooms." Hermione answered Harry's silent question. He couldn't shake the feeling something wasn't right. Ever since he came out of the book he felt like he was being watched.

"Let's hurry, we need to tell Scarlet what we found." Harry said quickening his pace.

"What's the hurry? He was adamant about wanting to be alone." Hermione said still mad at the boy for earlier.

"Hagrid said he hid the creature in the dungeons, it was never found, what if it's still there." That only caused him to further his pace.

They weren't that far from the classroom when he heard a chilling voice speak to him.

' _Harry Potter.'_

He came to a complete stop, he recognized that voice immediately, and it was the same one he heard the night before finding Ron's brother petrified.

"Harry, why did you stop?" He heard Hermione ask, but he wasn't paying attention.

' _Harry Potter.'_

There it was again it seemed a bit louder but he couldn't tell, he kept looking around but didn't see anything. "Can't you hear it?" He asked his friends.

' _I will kill you.'_

This time it definitely sounded louder. His friends still gave him looks that they didn't know what was going on, how could they not hear it?

' _I will kill you, and your friends.'_

The voice was so loud he put his hands to his ear to drown it out. "We need to go right now." He half yelled moving forward.

"Harry you're scaring me, what's going on?" Hermione asked concerned about why her friend was acting strangely.

Before he could say anything the candles blew out, plunging the trio in darkness, Harry heard Hermione scream, he had no idea what was going on, he reached out and grabbed them both and pushed them down the hall, they needed to get out of here.

' _There's no escaping your death.'_

The lights came back on and Harry breathed a sigh of relief when he saw all of them were unharmed. He saw Ron trembling; he looked like he was about to cry as his hand shook pointing at something behind him. Harry almost didn't want to look back but he felt his body moving on its own. When he turned around he saw one of the most terrifying things he'd ever seen.

A figure dressed in black, their entire body wrapped in a cloak, the only part exposed was a lower jaw that had a sadistic smirk on its face. Harry thought he knew fear when his aunt and uncle abused him, but this was another level. He could feel the dark magic emanating off of it, he felt like he would drown in it. The worst part was the figure knew this and seemed to take great pleasure in causing them fear.

"Wh- wh- who ar- are you?" Ron asked continuing to tremble to take a step back.

The figure let out a maniacal laughter, the voice echoing all around them making it seem louder and much more terrifying. Eventually, the figure stopped and walked towards them. " **I am the Heir of Slytherin.** "

 **Authors Notes: WHAT!? Another chapter out this soon? Well finishing the last one really motivated me to finish this quickly, add to the fact its one of the shorter chapters helped. Hopefully, with this chapter I'll be able to break the 100 marks on followers, it would mean a lot for me to reach it as a first time writer of fanfiction.**

 **Now for the long-awaited showdown, even though its three against one the Heir is a powerful individual, we'll see what happens.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling**

Within the Shadows Chapter 9

The air was tense, in the back of their minds they knew their current path would lead them face to face with the Heir of Slytherin, but to see it first hand was terrifying. Harry could feel his heart about to fall out of his chest at the rate it was beating. The dark magic radiating off of them, the dark robes, and the sadistic grin of its face, it all scared him; he unconsciously took a step back.

Facing Quirrel felt insignificant compared to this moment. Last year he knew his professor was behind it, even if he suspected the wrong teacher, it gave him some sense of comfort knowing what he was up against back then. In this instance, he had no idea what the Heir looked like, the unknown was the worst part, but now seeing what the Heir looked like sent chills down his spine.

" **No greeting? No bowing? I thought you were taught to respect your superiors Potter.** " The heir mocked.

Harry had to take several breaths, just hoping he could make some sound come out of his mouth. "I guess I missed that class." Harry joked trying to make himself calm down.

The heir apparently didn't find it amusing as it frowned at him. " **Malfoy was right, you are annoying.** "

"You should know that everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie." Harry growled, the blonde git had done nothing but spread lies about him since the dueling club.

The heir smirked at this " **On the contrary, thanks to him I've been several steps ahead of you and your pathetic group.** " It proceeded to pull something out of its robes, an old parchment. " **Admirable effort on trying to follow him, but with this map, I can track everyone's movement wherever they are, even with an invisibility cloak.** "

Harry's eyes widen at that. _'How does it know about my father's cloak!?'_

" **I have eyes everywhere, there's nowhere safe for you to go, nowhere private where I can't hear you, and nowhere I can't kill you.** " It uttered the last part quietly, but loud enough for them to hear, Harry could feel his friends shaking behind them.

Little did he know it wasn't fear that was causing Ron to shake, but pure anger. The redhead shoved past him, fist curled, and his face matching the color of his hair. Even when Malfoy was jabbing them at, he'd never seen his friend this angry.

"You petrified my brothers, how could you do that, they did nothing wrong!" Ron growled, taking a few steps forward.

" **I don't care about innocence. All that matters is the extinction of filthy blood traitors like your family.** " The dark wizard crossed its arms clearly not caring for Ron's words.

This only further infuriated Ron, Harry could see his hand shaking even more. "I will hurt you." Ron threatened pulling out his new wand. Molly Weasley had felt it was appropriate to get her son a new wand to defend himself.

The heir laughed at the wand aimed at him. " **You can't hurt me, make your best shot.** " The heir raised its arms to its side showing no effort to defend itself.

Ron growled at its arrogance "Diffindo!" he yelled firing the severing charm. The spell soared at the heir at great speed, Harry was excited as he watched it about to hit, but he saw the heir smiling at him. At great speed he watched a wand spring into its hand from underneath its robes, followed by a quick swipe and the spell rebounded and hit the ceiling.

"That spell was a protego, a powerful shield charm." Hermione observed.

"I don't care how powerful it is, Diffindo!" Ron yelled sending another spell, only for it to rebound into the wall. That didn't deter Ron as he fired off numerous spells in the heir's direction.

Harry knew they didn't stand a chance; the heir was only toying with Ron and would eventually get tired of playing with them. He looked over and saw Hermione still rooted in the same spot, slightly shaking.

He ran over to her "Hermione!" That got the girls attention.

"Harry I'm scared." She whimpered, he couldn't blame her. All she heard was that the heir wanted to kill her for being a muggle-born, now it was right here and there was nothing they could do to defeat it.

"I know Hermione, that's why I need you to leave." Harry grabbed onto her shoulders trying to get her to focus.

"I, I, I can't leave you, it'll kill you." Hermione said quietly, tears prickling her eyes.

"That's why I need you to get help, Ron and I will distract it, just run and get help." Harry told her, he knew on their own they had no chance, they needed more wands.

"But Harry I ca-"

"Now!" He ordered, she bit her lip looking at him, she then looked behind him and she saw the spells just deflect harmlessly off the heirs shield. She nodded back to him and ran down the hallway, she gave them one last look before turning the corner.

Harry sighed in relief, knowing he had one last thing to worry about. He turned around and saw his friend getting tired from the consecutive spells, they needed to change tactics. He ran over until he was right beside Ron.

"Ron when I tell you to, stop throwing spells." Harry told Ron, he just nodded back at him signaling he heard him. "Now!" Ron soon stopped; giving him the opportunity to cast the levitation charm on a suit of armor besides the heir. He smiled as the heir was caught off guard as the armor fell on top of it crashing onto the ground. "Fire Ron!" Ron nodded quickly and fired the severing charm, this time hitting its target on the occupied heir. They both smiled as it roared in pain. "Ron lets go!" He pulled Ron back and they ran off down a different hallway further into the dungeons, his plan may have worked but they wouldn't get lucky twice.

"Why aren't we running out of the snake-filled dungeon Harry?" Ron asked, struggling to keep up with him, clearly tired after using so many spells.

"Hermione is getting help, and plus that would leave Scarlet all alone with the heir, we have to warn him." Harry answered back taking another turn, they were nearly at the classroom.

"Oh right, sure." Ron agreed, remembering the reason why they came down originally.

Just as they were getting close they saw the door slowly open, panic hit Harry as he thought the heir might've beaten them here, but he relaxed as Scarlet slowly walked out engrossed with something in his hand.

"Scarlet!" Harry called getting the boys attention, his friend looked over and he saw a look of confusion on his face. They must've looked ridiculous running down the hallway. They soon stopped right in front of him, struggling to catch their breath.

"Where's the fire?" Scarlet asked Harry, he would've commented on the use of the muggle phrase if the situation weren't serious right now.

"Heir." Ron struggled to say catching his breath that only caused Scarlet to crease his brow. "I'm guessing you found information on your end."

Ron walked over to Scarlet, grabbed his shoulder and shook him "We didn't find information, we found it!" He panicked.

Scarlet pushed the redhead off him and looked irritated by it. "Harry what's this idiot talking about."

" **I believe your friend is referring to me.** " A voice interrupted. The three of them turned around and saw the heir standing in the middle of the hallway. " **I'll give you that Potter, I certainly underestimated you, but you won't get that lucky again.** " It growled at them, it soon started to walk over to them, wand in hand.

Harry saw Scarlet stand in front of them aiming his own wand. "Who the heck is that?" he asked.

"What we were trying to tell you, that's the heir we've been looking for." Harry answered back standing beside him, aiminghiss wand. Ron quickly joined them standing on the other side of Scarlet.

The heir laughed at them, clearly not intimidated by three-second year students, Harry just clutched his wand even harder. _'Get here soon Hermione.'_

" **You think three on one will do any good? Are you really naïve enough to think you have enough power to beat me!?"** It roared as it charged them.

Scarlet was the first to react. "Expelliarmus!" Sending the disarming charm at their attack foe, Harry expected the heir to use the shieled charm again but was surprised when the spell hit the heir but then went through it, soon their target disappeared as if it wasn't even there.

"Decoy!" Scarlet yelled looking around for their foe.

Before either of them could react they heard it yell "Bombarda!" an explosion erupted on the floor they stood on sending them flying into the wall in different directions.

Harry was disorientated from the attack, the world was spinning around him and his body was sore, it took him a moment for his vision finally return, unfortunate the first thing he saw was a curse flying in his directions, just as it was about to hit him he saw a shield charm conjured in front of him sending the curse harmlessly away.

"Get up Potter!" He heard someone yell at him, he looked up and saw Scarlet close by, he was the one who cast the shield! He was never more thankful for Tonks teaching Scarlet a few advance spells.

" **Finally someone who knows a decent spell, I don't think we've introduced ourselves Shade.** " The heir acknowledged.

"My name is more than enough." Scarlet snapped back.

" **Malfoy spoke a great deal about you said you'd be worthy of joining my organization. It's a shame you've chosen to align with blood traitors, and mudbloods…I'll have to fix that.** " The heir darkly uttered.

"Shut up!" Scarlet yelled. "Glacius!" He aimed his wand in a circular motion encasing the ceiling, walls, and floor in front of them until a wall of ice separated them from the heir.

"That won't hold him for long." Harry warned, he ran over to Ron and helped him up; he was battered but still conscious.

"It's not supposed to, just to buy us enough time to formulate a plan." He told both of them.

"I'm bloody open to anything, including running." Ron spoke up.

"That thing will kill us before we could make it out of the dungeons, we need to face him here and now, and luckily I have an idea." Scarlet said, before a loud bang could be heard behind them, the heir was attacking the wall of ice, and soon would break free.

"You have an idea to stop that!" Ron pointed out, in disbelief that anything they did could stop the heir, Harry had to agree with him.

"No, nothing permanent, but Tonks did teach me a few things about strategy in the Auror Academy, here's what I need you two to do…" He quickly explained his plan to the both of them, Ron and Harry seemed unsure if it would work but they had no other choice.

Just as they got ready in position the wall of ice shattered.

"Lumos!" They all shouted, pouring more energy into the spell than normal, blinding the heir just as it stepped past the ice wall, they saw it recoil and covered its eyes in the surprise attack. Just as its vision came back they were already in position.

" **I see your friends abandoned you Shade.** " The heir said noticing his two companions gone.

Scarlet smirked at his response. "Not quite." He answered back nodding to someone behind the heir.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Ron and Harry shouted from behind the heir, having no time to react the Heir was frozen on the spot. Before either of them could react they saw the Heir slowly moving, though it was hit with two body binding spells the power behind them wasn't nearly enough to take full effect, merely slowing it down.

Scarlet quickly moved over in front of the heir and joined in on the attack. "Glacius!" At point blank range a blue beam ice hit the Heir and soon encasing it in ice. With Ron and Harrys spells in effect the heir didn't have enough movement to defend itself.

All three stopped their spells and took a few steps back. "Did it work?" Ron asked nervously.

"Looks like it did, good plan Scarlet." Harry praised looking at the giant chunk of ice in the middle of the hallway.

Just as Scarlet was about to respond he noticed the ice start to shake. "Ho- how could that thing get out! It's frozen solid!" Ron said taking several steps back.

The ice shattered pelting them with chunks, Harry brought his arms in front of his face to shield him, but it didn't stop it from cutting into his arms causing him to yell out in pain. Harry could hear spells being cast but he couldn't do anything about it, eventually, when he felt the ice stop he slowly lowered his bleeding arms.

The Heir was standing in front of Scarlet and Ron, both of whom were motionless on the ground, and bleeding ' _No.'_

"Ron?" He asked tentatively staking a few steps further, but he didn't get an answer.

"Scarlet!?" Panic enveloping his tone, they couldn't be gone!

Instead of an answer, he got laughter. Looking over he saw the heir laughing at him clearly amused by this; Harry couldn't help but shake with anger.

" **You can relax they aren't dead, just knocked out, nothing a simple Stupefy couldn't pull off.** " The Heir said walking away from his friends.

"Why? Why are you doing this!? We did nothing wrong to you, why do you hate us this much?" Harry couldn't help but ask.

The Heir scoffed at his questions. " **A child like you wouldn't understand the importance of this matter.** "

"Your right, I don't understand." Harry's words seemed to confuse the Heir. "I don't understand how bigots like you can feel you are superior to others when you're all nothing more than spoiled brats."

" **Its words like that is what's wrong with the wizarding world. You don't understand how foul muggles are. You call me a bigot but how do you think muggles would feel if they discovered the wizarding world? Do you think they'd accept us? Or would they tarnish us as being different and use any means necessary to make us feel inferior."** The Heirs words had caught him off guard, looking back to how his aunts and uncle reacted to him being a wizard, only further validated its words.

The Heir seemed to pick up his hesitation. " **Perhaps you've experienced this first hand? Living with your aunt and uncle they must've shown disdain over your heritage?** " Harry widened his eyes when his uncle and aunt were mentioned, how could this monster know that about them? " **Harry, Harry, Harry. One does not get where I am without resources.** "

"What do you mean? How do you know that about me!" Harry roared clutching his wand harder than ever.

" **You wouldn't believe me if I tried, but enough talk. Let's fight.** " Before Harry could react the Heir fired off a spell. It struck him on the chest and sent him flying down the hallway landing far away.

Harry groaned getting up, the power and speed behind it were unlike anything he'd seen before. He didn't have time think on it anymore as another spell was hailed in his direction, he rolled to the left watching it blast a small hole in the wall.

" **Don't think the noise will attract anyone's attention, I've placed a silencing charm in this area, this won't end with that old fool saving you.** " The Heir growled before sending another spell at Harry.

"I'll stop you!" Harry growled dodging another curse, he managed to get a spell off but it was easily deflected, he used it as a chance to further the distance between them.

" **If you had the power to thwart my plans you would've done it already.** " It started walking towards him, almost enjoying the terror it was causing him. " **But I forgot, you're the savior of the wizarding world, the hero of this story.** " It mocked stepping closer, Harry could feel the anger radiating off the heir as it continued speaking. " **The boy your parents loved, The hero this world worships, you have everything, AND DESERVE NONE OF IT!** "

The Heir charged at him at incredible speed, Harry barely jumped out of the way just before a crater was formed where he was standing a second ago. The heir turned around and glared at him.

" **I'm going to kill every single mudblood in this castle, just as I started 50 years ago. Then you'll have no choice but to bow down to me as your lord.** " It fired another curse at him and once again he was dodging to save his life.

Harry kept rolling out of the way, but at the rate, the spells were being fired at didn't give him time to counter. Eventually, he wasn't quick enough and a spell nicked his leg drawing blood. Harry fell down screaming in pain, he used his hand to put pressure on it but that did little to ease the pain. A shadow loomed over him and he saw the Heir standing over him.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, wanting to know the answer plaguing him for so long.

" **I am the Heir of Slytherin.** " It said raising its wand at Harry.

"Petrificus Totalus!" A voice screamed, Harry saw the Heirs body freeze being paralyzed. A quick look over and he saw Scarlet on his knee's just about to pass out.

"Augamenti!" The spell did the job as a strong current of water erupted from his wand knocking the heir off its feet and landed harshly against the wall behind it, then falling to the ground.

Harry limped over as fast as he could; they needed to know who the heir was. He was about to reach for its hood when something grabbed his throat. The heir lifted him off the ground a firm hold on his neck, getting tighter. He could feel air escaping his lungs, he clawed at it trying to loosen its grip but the heir held strong.

" **I want so badly to kill you, and I will. But you have to live a little while longer, long enough to see those closest to you die!** " He was then thrown against the wall, landing roughly on the ground.

The heir gave him one last look before turning its back to him and walking away. Harry made a weak effort to reach out and grab it, but his body was too tired. The last thing Harry saw was the heirs departing form, before blacking out.

XXX

Pain, all he could feel was the pain. From his legs, chest, arms, even his eyelids, anytime he even considered moving his body would scream at him not to. He could hear vague voices but he didn't have the energy to concentrate.

Just as he was about to fall back asleep he felt the pain lessen. At first, he thought he his mind was tricking him, this wouldn't be the first time his body tricked him when it came to injuries, but then the pain continued to ease up. Deciding to try again he moved his pinky, and he found it moved much more easily than last time. It seemed the background voice got louder. This time he decided to move the entire hand, and again no pain. This was a big test, using all his strength he tried to sit up. He had to clench his teeth as pain shot through his body, not as much as earlier but it was still prevalent.

About to give up he felt a pair of hands on his back, he would've flinched if he wasn't so tired. Realizing that the hands were trying to help him he let them help sit up until he was in a fully upright position.

Opening his eyes he saw the owner of the hands that helped him.

"Hermione?" Scarlet asked groggily.

"Scarlet thank Merlin you're alright." Hermione said happily, but despite her words she looked very uncomfortable with him, he recognized the look, it was the same one people had when mentioning his parents, pity. He didn't know why she was giving him that look, he figured it was because he almost died, not wanting to continue looking at her face he looked to see where they were.

It was then that he got a better idea of his surroundings, they were in the unused classroom they had their weekly meetings, upon further inspection, he saw four more people in the room. Daphne and Tracey were looking over Harry and Ron who were both awake and seemed to be performing a spell on them.

Scarlet was confused, the last thing he remembered was fighting the heir before passing out, why were they all in here, better question was why they were still alive?

"What happened?" He asked Hermione. "And how did you find us?"

"Harry asked to me to get help while he and Ron fought off the Heir." She explained.

"Instead of professors, you grabbed Daphne and Tracey?" Scarlet asked unsure of her choice in help.

"They were the first people I found, and I didn't want to leave you three by yourselves any longer than necessary." She responded motioning her head towards the two Slytherin. "When we got down to the dungeons we followed the destruction, I started to get worried and then." She paused; she started to shed a few tears but tried to stop. "We finally found you three, I thought you were all dead. All of you weren't moving and there were puddles of blood, I nearly passed out upon sight." She sighed before speaking the next part. "Greengrass was able to snap me out of it, and we found out that neither of you was dead but passed out. We couldn't waste time getting more help, and we didn't want to move you all too far so we brought you here. Luckily Greengrass and Davis knew minor healing spells, and I read up on it so that's what we've been doing. " She performed the spell in front of him on his arm, Scarlet could feel the pain lessen a bit.

"No one else was there?" Scarlet asked it seemed odd the Heir wouldn't finish the job.

Hermione started to breathe heavily at his question, he could only figure she saw what it looked like and it terrified her. "The heir was gone when we got there, its been an hour since were alone."

Feeling like he sat down long enough, Scarlet started to stand up. Pain shot through his body at he started to use his muscles, Hermione was quick to his side putting his arm over her shoulder and helping him stand.

"You shouldn't be moving Scarlet, you're still injured." She told him.

"I know but I want to check up on the others." He said walking slowly with her help.

They soon reached the others with Daphne being the first to notice him. She had a look of relief on her face, which was soon replaced with a scowl. "Are you thick? Get off your feet or you'll hurt yourself."

"I know, I just wanted to check up on all of you." He said easing down to the floor.

A small smile formed on her face. "How are you feeling?"

"Body's in pain, but at least I'm not dead." He said looking over his body. "Thank you, all of you, I appreciate you putting your life for us." He said looking at all three of young witches.

"We'd be done if it weren't for you three." Ron said slowly getting up, he seemed to be in better condition than Harry and himself.

Harry got up himself and leaned against the wall echoing their sentiments.

Isn't the first time you Gryffindors injured yourself, almost a rite of passage with you lot, first time I think a Slytherin actually treated you." Daphne said getting up and wiping the dirt off her clothes.

"Its good thing one of my mum is a healer at, or else Daphne and I wouldn't know the Episkey spell." Tracey joined in standing up.

"I guess with all of us awake, and not dead we should tell the teachers." Hermione suggested.

"Yeah." Ron agreed.

Scarlet knew they were in over their head, they had to tell the teachers, and they could properly handle the dark wizard. He nodded his head in agreement.

"We can't." Daphne argued, surprising everyone.

"What do you mean Daphne? Look what happened to us, they have to know." Harry spoke up.

Daphne got a dark look on her face, she seemed to be reluctant to share her thoughts. "If we do that…they'll shut down the school."

The air was tense, no one knew what to say about that, the thought never crossed his or her minds.

"What do you mean they'll close down the school?" Ron was the first to ask.

"It means they'll close down the school, are you thick?" She asked annoyed at repeating herself. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Right now Dumbledore and the government have been trying their best to keep the attacks a secret if the world knew there would panic. However, the Minister is being pressured by Lucius Malfoy to inform the press. Minister Fudge told the headmaster if one more attack incurs they'd bring in Aurors and close down the school.

"How do you know about this?" Hermione asked she seemed in disbelief over Greengrasses words.

"Her father is in the government." Scarlet spoke first, giving Hermione a look to not start another argument.

"So if we inform the teachers, they'll have no choice but to shut down the school." Daphne finished.

"It's probably for the best, let the Aurors handle it, and then they'll open the school next semester." Hermione suggested logically.

Daphne laughed humourlessly at her comment. "I'm starting to think your thick as well Granger. They won't shut down the school for a few weeks, or even a couple months, but years. She looked at everyone in the eye. "That means muggle-borns won't be able to finish their education, some students would have to be homeschooled, others returning to their muggle guardians, and the others going to school in a different country further away from home. Add to the fact if the heir is a student and we believe they are, they'll be able to walk right out of this school and get away."

Daphne's words cut deep, she managed to point out how every one of them would lose in this situation, he looked over at Hermione, she wouldn't be accepted in a different school and would be forced to finish her education in the muggle world. Ron would be homeschool, he wasn't sure about Harry. There was no guarantee he would end up in the same school as Daphne, and Tracey, he wasn't even sure he would be accepted in another school. The thought of not seeing them and being alone again terrified him; he couldn't go back to his old life.

"She's right." Everyone looked at Scarlet in surprise. He'd always been the one to think logically, and he knew he was throwing that out the window, but it felt right being selfish in this instance. "We lose so much if we do this, neither of us wants to leave Hogwarts." He said looking at everyone. "But, whatever decision we make it has to be unanimous, everyone here has an equal say, we are in an alliance after all."

"Well, I vote for keeping quiet." Daphne was the first to say. Scarlet nodded at her and raised his hand in agreement.

Everyone else looked unsure, honestly Scarlet wasn't sure what everyone would do. Tracey was the next to step forward. "I'm in as well, if Hogwarts closes down then the heir wins, as someone who's been ridiculed behind my back by purebloods, this is the first time I have to stand up to one, and I want to do that because I have all of you on my side." She spoke with conviction.

"I'm in too." Ron spoke up, he slowly stood up and limped closer to all of them, leaning on a desk. "Honestly, that heir bloody scares me, but having that out there at any moment could attack my sister scares me more. I won't be able to go home knowing I let down my family."

Since the new year Scarlet had found a new respect for Ron, he'd taken his studies and this matter a lot more serious than he thought, and had proven to be an asset in this mystery rather than a liability.

That left Harry and Hermione, Scarlet had a hard time imagining either of them would keep quiet about this, Hermione was brave but not stupid, the look she gave him said that she realized they were overmatched, Harry probably would give anything to go home away from all the bullying and rumors he'd been on the receiving end of the past few months.

"I'm in with you guys." Harry said, much to the surprise of Scarlet. "The heir knows a lot about us if we run there's no guarantee we'll be safe, and I don't think any of us wants our families to be targets.

Hermione looked annoyed at the turn this conversation had lead to, she seemed to be internally debating what to do, as someone who followed the rules, for the most part, she seemed conflicted.

"Hermione." Harry called out moving closer to her. "Remember what we talked about around the holidays, we can't stop now." Scarlet didn't know what he was referring to but hoped it would convince the brunette.

"Alright." He heard her say quietly.

"Does this mean?" Tracey asked, nervous to finish the question.

"Yes, I won't say anything to the professors." She nodded to Tracey.

"Good." Scarlet said placing a hand on his side, despite the amazing spell work the witches did he was still sore, and it would be a few days before he and the other two walking around without a limp. "I suggest we leave before the teachers or prefect find the damage done to the hallways." He started walking towards the door.

He'd just stepped out into the hallway when he felt someone close behind, glancing back he saw it was Hermione. She was still giving him that same look from when he first woke, pity. "I'm fine Hermione, you did a brilliant good with the episkey spell, I'm just a tad sore."

She stepped closer to him; she seemed nervous, sad, and a bit frustrated at the same time. She wouldn't look him in the eye, just glancing down his body. Minutes passed by and she still didn't say anything, just as he was about to say something she spoke first.

"I'm so sorry you went through that." She said quietly taking another step closer.

"Like I said, I'm just sore, it's alright." He reassured, he turned around and continued walking down the hallway.

"I'm not talking about that." She said grabbing his attention.

Scarlet turned back and saw tears streaming down her face, she ran over and wrapped her arms tightly around him. Unsure on what brought this on, he merely accepted it and reciprocated. Rubbing her back as the crying continued.

It wasn't long before Hermione calmed down. "I'm so sorry." She said, her voice muffled by his shirt.

Scarlet couldn't help but smile. "I told you I'm fine." He laughed; sometimes she was just too worried for her own good.

"It's not that." She said quietly.

"Then what is it?" Scarlet asked.

"I saw your scars." She uttered.

The hallway went quiet, the sound of candles couldn't be heard, the sound of cracked stone was mute, even eerie sounds from the pipes couldn't be heard. All Scarlet could hear was his heart beating faster and faster. ' _No, no, no, no she can't know!_ '

Scarlet pushed Hermione off him and held her by her shoulders. "What are you talking about? I'm bruised not scarred." He said trying to brush it off, but she shook her head at him.

"Don't lie please Scarlet." Hermione pleaded.

Scarlet's heart just continued to beat faster, the one thing he feared was happening. "I don't know what you're talking about." He said simply turning around and trying to get away from the situation.

"Scarlet don't do this!" She ran quickly behind him and grabbed his arm.

He tried pulling his arm away but Hermione held on. "Let go!" He snapped.

"Not until you explain this!" On cue, she pulled his sleeve up revealing all of his lies.

Along his arm were scarring; slashes littered his arm, each of varying in sizes. He was annoyed he couldn't hide it, the battle against the Heir had left him weakened and he couldn't hide them with his metamorphmagus abilities.

He narrowed his eyes at her; angry that she had the nerve to do this to him, how dare she try to force this, how dare she invade his privacy when he was unconscious. "Stop." He growled.

"No, this is what's causing you to lose sleep isn't it? Something's been bothering you for awhile now, and you've never talked about it, but I can't ignore this any longer." She challenged, she waved her wand around them, he assumed it was probably a silencing charm.

"This is none of your business Hermione." He seethed; frustrated that she wouldn't drop this.

"Scarlet I can't keep watching you suffer, every day you come into the Great Hall looking worse and worse, I'm dreading the day Ron and Harry come to me and tell me your gone." She said worriedly, she pulled down his sleeve, once again hiding his scars.

"I'm handling it Hermione, and I've done it long before I knew you." He said pulling his arm back.

"You call this handling it? You're falling asleep in class, your grades are slipping, and getting easily irritated." Hermione countered, she just didn't know when to stop.

"What do you want me to say Hermione!?" Scarlet snapped, he was getting tired of this.

"The truth." She simply stated.

"Fine, I've been abused!" He yelled. "I was abused for years, reminded every time I change my clothes, happy?" At this point he was livid, exhaustion mixed with the stress was finally getting to him.

"Why didn't you say anything, its been affecting you all this time, you could've told us." Hermione responded sadly.

"Why? So you all could give me the same pitying look you just gave me earlier?" Scarlet took a deep breath; he needed to calm down before he let his anger control him anymore. "Ron, Harry and you all lived with a family that loves you, I didn't, how could anyone of you help me when you can't even relate to my issues."

Hermione just looked at him, with the same damn sad eyes he hated to be looked at with. He knew the answer to his question, neither her nor the others could understand the pain he felt for years, the physical and emotional abuse he suffered. Waking up every day scared at what the people who are supposed to protect you would do to you, hiding under the bed hoping the monsters that were his parents wouldn't find him, begging countless times to stop the pain. Scarlet realized he was unconsciously rubbing the burn mark on his chest, something that didn't go unnoticed by Hermione.

Scarlet walked away done with the conversation, he'd made his point.

"Harry does." He thought at first he imagined it said, but when he looked over at Hermione the tears in her eyes confirmed she'd said it.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, he knew he should've just walked away, he went off by himself today to put his issues away, but this conversation was just bringing up almost every single problem he had and highlighting it.

She bit her lip as he looked at her. "You said we all live with a family that loves us, but you're wrong."

He raised his eyebrow at that, he doubted any of them experience anything similar to what he'd handled. "Oh? Are you telling me Potter was used as a knife sharpener?" He sneered.

She flinched at his tone; she looked uncomfortable at the details on how Scarlet was abused. "No. At least not that I'm aware of, but he's been abused."

"I don't believe you." In all the time he'd known Harry the boy wonder had not shown the same signs he had dealt with the past year.

"He has, and just like you its been affecting him, and he's too stubborn to ask for help." She responded. "He's been verbally abused by his aunt and uncle all because he's a wizard." She told him.

Scarlet's eyes widened at that, the source of his abuse was when he first showcased his magical abilities. ' _No, no I would've noticed if he was abused._ '

"Harry almost didn't go to Hogwarts this year." She continued breaking him from his thoughts. "They weren't happy with him so they locked him in his room, and placed bars on his windows so he couldn't escape. If it wasn't for Ron and his brothers Harry would still be there."

Scarlet looked back at all the interactions he'd had with Potter trying to find anything he might've overlooked when he was with the boy, it couldn't be possible he'd missed this.

The memories of him traveling to Hogwarts with him, how he'd been vague about his home life in the summer, the lack of mention of his relatives, how Ron had shut up mid-sentence when he was talking to him at his night-time escapades with Harry, the lack of friends.

He then remembered how critical of the boy he was in the first year, wondering how the savor of the wizarding world couldn't answer a simple question in potions when everyone else in the class could, it would explain his sub par performance in class.

Scarlet then thought on how despite his popularity Harry wasn't consumed by it like Lockhart was, instead he was a shy boy who had only a few friends, and never once he thought he was better than anyone, if anything learning this he felt as though Potter may have thought himself less important than all of them. In fact, he didn't even engage in physical contact, Scarlet used to be like that before Tonks, even then he wasn't completely comfortable with it.

Then he remembered how his aunt had reacted to him when he visited during the summer. His aunt stared at him with the same look he saw his own mother gave him when she abused him, hatred.

His head was shaking at this. _'How could I have missed this? The signs were obvious but I chose to ignore them._ ' He needed to leave, all this information was overwhelming, this entire day had been stressful and this wasn't helping, even though he believed Hermione he couldn't focus on this, he had other things to do.

"Sorry I just can't Hermione." Scarlet shook his head at her.

"But Scarlet, if you can't open up to me then maybe talking to Harry can he-."

"No!" He stared hard at her, almost challenging her to try and continue, but one look at him and she backed down.

He turned around and walked away for good.

XXX

The torches lit up upon it entering the chamber, the Heir took a deep breath to enjoy the solitude of its chamber. Some people would pause at the look of the room, but to it, the Chamber of Secrets was the most beautiful room in this pathetic school.

The stone carvings on the room had been expertly crafted, something only truly powerful would be able to create this with such detail. It made its way across the cold stone floor and stopping in front of the statue of the greatest Slytherin in history, whos legacy lived on till this day. The founder commanded such power and respect, it hoped that once its plans came to fruition that it would be seen with that same respect and power.

Today had been both a success and disappointment in its eyes. The goal of its attack was to determine the strength of Potter, to see how a child could defeat the Dark Lord. What it saw was a disappointment, Potters knowledge and prowess of magic was no match for it, and he was easily taken care of. Potter was the only obstacle for its plan because he was an unknown, it heard stories about the boy, but now facing the child realized they were nothing but stories, and he was no savior.

The Heir snarled that despite him having no special gifts the boy had managed to kill Voldemort, truly embarrassing. At least now it knew no one would get in the way. ' _ **I would've thought Dumbledore would be my biggest problem, last time the chamber was open he didn't relent until Hagrid was framed. Now it seems as though thinking of putting a few teachers and prefects on patrols is enough to thwart my plans, the old fool must be losing it with his age.**_ _'_ The heir chuckled to itself at the thought of the old man.

If anything it felt the boy Shade proved to be a bigger threat than Potter, the boy had successfully produced a Protego at his young age, and stopped its attack. Keeping an eye on the boy the past few months it was clear Shade was above his class, and at the rate, his magic was growing would prove to be a powerful wizard. The Heir pondered on what to do of the boy, being a pureblood he would be a valuable asset, perhaps it was time it does something about it, not now but soon.

A smile formed on its lips. " **Yes, perhaps I've overlooked Shade for too long, he'll prove most useful.** "

 **Authors Notes:** **Well that took an interesting turn, didn't expect Scarlet's big secret to be found out did you? Now that his secret is out Scarlet will have a difficult time ignoring it and will be forced to handle his problems in a healthy way. Also gave a bit more in-depth look at the Heir, was nervous handling another fight scene but I think I did a solid job with it, hopefully, you all can comment on it, as I'm getting used to it.**

 **The Shadow Alliance took a hit, but I feel as though this will force them to open up with one another, and in a way to bring them closer together, as the main reason they lost was they weren't working together and let their distrust get in the way.**

 **Big news as I broke over 100 followers a few days ago, thank you so much, I only write this because of the great messages and feedback you all give me, and always coming back to see every new update. If you have any questions I'm always free to answer them. Till next time!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling**

Within The Shadows Chapter 10

"Harry?"

"Hm?"

"What's your opinion on Tracey?"

Harry was a little taken a back by the question, seemingly coming out of nowhere. Thinking his best mate might be taking the mickey out of him he looked up from the book he was reading at the red head only to see him looking at him with a serious expression.

"Well, she seems nice?" Harry answered a bit unsure of why Ron asked him.

Ron just nodded at him "Yeah." He mumbled, looking over at the girl in question from across the library.

Harry looked over as well and saw the two girls studying at a nearby table. Looking back over at his friend he saw Ron had a troubled look on his face.

"Is everything alright? Did she do something to you?" Harry asked leaning forward.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that." Ron mumbled, little did both of them know they girl in question was talking about something similar to them.

XXX

"He's staring again." Daphne said offhand while writing her charms homework.

Tracey looked over at her friend than to the other side of the library and saw Harry and Ron looking their way. Upon noticing they were caught both boys immediately looked the other way. Tracey couldn't help but giggle at them.

"I think I broke him." Tracey said smiling while going over her notes.

"Don't do that to yourself Davis, Weasley was broken long before we met him." Daphne muttered to her.

"That's mean Daphne." Tracey said, but that didn't stop the small laugh from escaping her mouth, by now she was used to her best friends personality.

"It's true, I think you burst the sad bubble that all Slytherins are evil wizards." Daphne mocked shaking her head.

"I think he was already starting to come around, I just pushed him over the edge." Tracey beamed.

"Yay." Daphne said sarcastically, finally looking up at her friend. "So what exactly happened?' She asked.

"Wellll" Tracey said looking over at the two boys again.

XXX

Once he felt Tracey's stare was off of him he looked up back to Harry. "I don't get them." He said.

"What do you mean? You've been off for awhile Ron." Harry asked his friend had been weird the past while, especially when Tracey was around.

"It's just…" Ron stopped speaking, he seemed stumped on how to phrase what he was about to say. "My brothers have always told me to stay away from anyone in Slytherin, said they were up to no good." He motioned his head toward the two girls.

It started to make sense to Harry on what Ron was getting at, it seems Tracey somehow managed to completely crumble Ron's bias at her house, and now he seemed unsure of something he's believed in since he's known the boy.

"Then Scarlet introduced us to them, Daphne was very cold and mean towards us so I wasn't surprised, but Tracey seemed nice." Ron further explained.

"Because that's the person she is Ron." Harry commented, he picked that up very quickly that Davis despite her being in Slytherin was a kind person.

"I know, but I just thought it was some sinister act, or something." Ron shrugged his shoulders at the thought.

"So what changed?" Harry pressed on, his homework long forgotten.

He could see his friend thinking about it in his head.

XXX

 _It seemed the two boys were finally well enough to walk on their own to the Gryffindor common room. Tracey made a mental note to thank her mum for teaching her a healing spell, she shuddered to think in what state all three boys would be if she didn't know. She went to grab her wand to make sure she didn't break it when she didn't feel it in her pocket. Frowning she went to check her other one, it came up empty, she rummaged through her book bag and yet she still couldn't find it. She cursed herself; she must've forgotten it in the classroom._

 _A few minutes away from the unused classroom she turned around and quickly ran back, it didn't take her long to reach it and she was about to grab the handle when she heard a noise. She jumped a little in reaction, considering the battle the three boys just endured Tracey was a little on edge, who knew if the heir would come back again._

 _Tracey heard the noise again; it sounded like it was coming from the classroom she was trying to get into. She pressed her ear against the door trying to get a better idea on what it was. 'It sounds like…crying?" She pulled back confused, she seemed unsure if she heard it right if someone was indeed crying she wanted to give them privacy, but at the same time, her wand was in there. She couldn't leave it in there overnight._

 _Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the door handle and slowly pushed, she quickly found the source of the noise. Sitting near the front of the classroom she found Ron hunched over on a chair quietly sniffling._

 _Her heart broke a little at the sight, she didn't like seeing people upset and wanted to do something to help. It was almost second nature to her, she figured she must've picked it up from watching her mother, being a healer at St. Mungos she often watch the joy her mum would put on peoples faces after a check up._

 _She was a still a little hesitant though since she met the boy she noticed he had some biases against Slytherin. Of course, it wasn't surprising considering how his older brothers acted, she was very upset when Daphne told her on how she was approached by Percy Weasley last year. She bit her lip conflicted on what to do, but another look at Ron and she knew she couldn't ignore this._

 _She took a deep breath before walking closer, she was a few feet behind the boy before she called out to him. "Ron?"_

 _Tracey saw him flinch upon her saying something. He raised his arm and used his sleeve to wipe his face. He quickly stood up and faced her, his face was very red, it was obvious he had just cried, he frowned at her when he noticed who had called out to him._

" _What do you want?" He asked quietly, there was a small amount of anger in his tone, she wasn't sure if she was the cause of it, or his current distress._

" _I just forgot my wand, I came in to get it, but then I saw you." She explained, motioning over to her wand that lied on a table._

 _Ron looked over and saw the wand as well; his face softened a little bit._

" _Are you okay?" Tracey asked hesitantly, they had never talked to one another without Scarlet in the same room, it just made this conversation a little more awkward and uncomfortable with her, and she suspected him as well._

" _What's it to you?" Ron spat, Tracey flinched at the tone. He then walked over towards the table grabbed her wand, then walked back to her and shoved it in her hands. "Going to tell all the other snakes about this? I'm sure Zabini and the other snakes are going to have a good laugh at the Weasel crying like a child."_

 _Tracey couldn't stop the first tear from running down her face, or the next, or the next. Ron's words had struck her hard, especially when he mentioned Blaise Zabini._

 _Ron's anger soon evaporated when he saw what his words had done to her, a look of guilt appeared on his face. "I'm sorry, I'm just upset and I shouldn't have said that stuff to you." He apologized._

 _Tracey sniffled a little and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. "It's alright, its just you mentioned_ _ **him**_ _and that just brought up a lot of emotions." She explained sitting down on a nearby chair._

" _What happened?" Ron asked, sitting down across from her._

 _Tracey bit her lip at the question, this had been bothering her since the holidays, in fact, she was talking to Daphne about it before Hermione ran over and told them the heir was attacking the boys._

" _It's just." She paused, taking another deep breath. "I'm not friends with Zabini anymore." She started._

" _But I thought you were dating or something?" Ron asked. Tracey gave him an incredulous look. "Sorry, just Scarlet told me you stayed with him during the summer for a bit."_

" _That's true, but we weren't dating." She explained. "But a small part of me did fancy him." She looked down at her hands. "When Scarlet and Daphne told me he willingly joined a group that wanted everyone but purebloods gone, it hurt me." She could feel tears starting to form and she quickly wiped her eyes._

" _I know its tough, but he doesn't want you killed or petrified, you're a part of Slytherin." Ron pointed out._

 _Tracey just laughed humourlessly, Ron seemed confused at her response, and she looked at him and gave him a hard look. "I'm a half-blood remember?" She said quietly._

 _She saw his eyes lit up in recognition of their previous conversation weeks ago._ _This conversation was quickly becoming more personal than she would've thought or liked, but she could tell the questions weren't coming from a bad place, merely just curiosity. "They don't pick on me because I'm friends with Daphne. As a pureblood, she has a lot of sways, so there's a silent agreement I'm untouchable. Almost how no one in Slytherin picks on Scarlet even though he's in Gryffindor."_

 _A look of understanding came on Ron's face, he seemed to finally understand a bit of the social dynamics of Slytherin. "So that's why it hurt when Blaise joined Malfoy and his dark circle."_

 _She nodded at him. "I thought we were good friends, that he didn't care that I was a half-blood. I felt so happy when he invited me over in the summer, we had so much fun together." A sad look came over her face. "Then Daphne explained what happened during the meeting, and it felt like someone used the cruciatus curse on me."_

" _He's thick you know that?" Ron mused. Tracey snorted at the unexpected comment, it soon turned into full-blown laughter, and she could hear Ron laughing too._

" _Thank you, I needed that." Tracey said smiling for the first time since entering this room, it was then she remembered why she initially talked to him. "So we talked about my problems, its only fair that you share."_

 _Ron sighed heavily at this, looking down she could see him, clenching and unclenching his fist. "Its just, he got away." He answered._

 _Quickly cluing in on whom Ron was referring to. "Its alright we'll get another chance." She reassured._

" _It's not that, just I wanted to catch this tosser for so long." He sighed heavily. "And today I had a chance to finally stop him, and he threw me around that hallway like I was a ragdoll." Ron confessed she watched him close his eyes tightly in an attempt to stop the tears. "I've never seen my mum so sad before, just so broken on the holidays, I made a promise to myself I would do everything I could to stop the heir, and I couldn't keep it."_

 _Tracey could feel her heartbreak at Ron's admission, most of the time she'd seen the boys temper, but she forgot that her brothers being petrified was the source of that anger._

" _You know we'll stop it right?" She asked him, he just shrugged at her comment. "It caught us off guard, we were separated, no plan, we were going to fail right from the beginning."_

" _Is this supposed to help?" Ron sneered at her comments, but she raised a hand at him._

" _I'm not finished, next time will be different. Next time the heir comes back it won't be just you, Potter, Shade, and Granger, you'll have Daphne and I' support you all, we can't lose." She smiled at him._

 _Ron couldn't help smile at the comment, as strange as it was to hear, two Slytherins supporting him, it sorta felt nice. "Thank you, I appreciate that." Ron thanked her._

" _No problem, it's just the benefit of being my friend, I fill you with positive energy." Tracey beamed standing up. "Anyway I think we should go, someone's going to discover the destroyed hallway and we can't be anywhere close to here." She motioned for him to follow as she walked out._

 _Ron nodded and agreement and followed her out. It wasn't until they said their goodbyes and he was on his way to the common room that a thought popped in his mind. 'She called me her friend?'_

XXX

Harry couldn't help but laugh at his friend; he was finally discovering that not all Slytherins are dark wizards.

"This is serious Harry, all my brothers talked to about is Quidditch, and how horrible is Slytherin, only to find out Tracey is actually nice. What if they're wrong about other things? What if Quidditch isn't actually that important!?" Ron panicked; he grabbed Harry by the shoulders and started to shake him.

"Ron, Ron, RON!" Harry yelled to his friend, only for Madam Pince to shush them. Ron stopped shaking his friend.

"What the heck is going on?" A new voice asked. Both boys looked over and saw Scarlet standing with a book in hand. "I leave for a few minutes to look for a book and I find you….like this?"

Harry was confused on what Scarlet meant, he then looked forward towards Ron. He had both his hands on his shoulder and had leaned in slightly, Harry couldn't stop the blush appearing on his face at what an outsider might think of their _close situation_. He knocked Ron's hands off his shoulders and pushed his friend slightly back.

"Anyway, I'm heading to the Great Hall for an early dinner, either of you wants to join me?" Scarlet asked packing his bag.

"Sure, I just finished studying for potions." Harry said gathering his things as well.

"Aren't you supposed to be watching my sister Scarlet?" Ron asked the plan was for Scarlet to keep an eye on his sister so the Heir wouldn't petrify her.

Scarlet just nodded his head toward the other side of the library. Ron looked in that direction and saw his sister studying at a table close by with a few first years.

"Hermione promised to keep an eye on her, now come on." Scarlet said, he finished packing up and walked out with Harry right behind him.

Ron hastily shoved all of his notes and books in his bag before quickly running after them out of the library.

XXX

"I want to say I'm surprised you opened up to a Gryffindor, but you always were able to connect with people easier than I ever could." Daphne commented.

Tracey just shrugged at her friend's words. "It's called being nice, maybe you should actually follow my example." She nodded past her shoulder.

Daphne looked over and saw the bane of her existence walking over to them. "I found the book we were looking for Greengrass." She said sitting down and writing notes on parchment.

Daphne wanted to groan at this predicament, she was stuck studying with the annoying Granger, and her best friend was pushing her to talk to her, this was all Scarlet's fault. She made a mental note to smack the boy the next time she saw him.

"I think Scarlet was on to something I'm going to head out for an early dinner." Tracey said suddenly, she stood up and packed her things.

Daphne almost snapped her quill in half. "Don't you think it's dangerous to walk off on your own? That's the whole point of staying in groups." Daphne reminded her friend trying to convince her to stay.

Tracey seemed to ponder her words for a moment, tapping her chin, before shrugging and running out of the library, much to the annoyance of Madam Pince.

Daphne silently groaned at this, now she was stuck with Granger. The Gryffindor annoyed her a lot, she didn't like her, and she felt confident the feeling was mutual. Both Scarlet and Tracey had talked to her about the issue but no matter what the feeling never went away.

Daphne just sighed at this, grabbed her quill and started to copy down notes from the book Granger brought. ' _The quicker we get this done, the quicker I can murder Tracey and Scarlet._ '

"I'm sorry am I boring you?" She heard her Transfiguration partner ask, mistaking her sigh for boredom. Looking up Daphne found that the girl was giving her an annoyed looked.

"No." She said simply and continued writing down her notes. She heard the girl quietly utter something, and that time the quill did snap in her hands. "If you want to say something to me, Granger, then I recommend you don't mumble it like a child." Her eyes narrowing with each word.

"I said, you are unbelievable." Granger responded through clenched teeth, clearly irritated by her.

"What's your issue Granger, trying to pick a fight with me?" Daphne retorted, crossing her arms.

"I'm trying to pick a fight?" Granger asked incredulously. "You're the one that's had problems with me before we even met."

"And why do you think that is?" She asked.

The girl seemed to have words at the tip of her tongue, almost as if she was holding back. "Because just like every other Slytherin you're a bigot and hate muggle-born." She finally said, glaring at the blonde.

Daphne could feel her right eye twitch at her words; the girl was incredibly ignorant to all things around her, comparing her to her housemates. She leaned in closer not wanting their conversation to be overheard. "Are you really comparing me to Malfoy and the others? You think I'm like them?" She growled, venom dripping from her words.

"Yes. Ever since we met in the hospital wing last year you've been antagonizing me, whether through school work, S.P.E.W, or my friendship with Scarlet, for no reason whatsoever. I've had enough!" Granger said, causing Daphne to frown at the response.

She couldn't help but shake her head, for an intelligent witch Granger was missing something rather obvious. "You're wrong, I don't hate muggle-born." She confessed.

Granger just scoffed at her, clearly in disbelief. "I just don't like you." Daphne finished, sneering at the girl.

Granger to her credit didn't back down from the cold look Greengrass was giving and gave one right back. "Oh really? Then why are you so insufferable towards me." She demanded.

"Because you're a muggle-born." She said Granger looked ready to hex the girl so she continued. "Ever since you got to Hogwarts all you've ever talked about is changing our ways, thousands of years worth of tradition and all you care about is ruining it. Honestly, if all muggle-borns came to the wizarding world and truly embraced this world you wouldn't have families like the Malfoys looking down on your kind." She seethed, she didn't plan on telling Granger any of this but she had enough. "All you can talk about is how out-dated we are, how parchment and quills are inferior to paper and pens, how house-elves should be free, how dark magic is evil and other meaningless words." She could hear herself getting louder; she curled her fists in anger as she had enough holding back. "What's worse is that we don't get to celebrate the holidays like we used to because it would make you all feel left out, or offended, instead were forced to celebrate a holiday we don't believe in, and celebrate the birth of a man we don't worship!" Daphne could feel the wind pick up around them, papers started to fly everywhere, students nearby were panicking trying to get their assignments together. Upon noticing the accidental magic she was releasing Daphne did everything within her power to calm down.

She could see Granger back down with each word, and look almost guilty at them; she took a quick breath she needed to calm down to make her last point stick. "Yes maybe were outdated to your standards, but this is our way of life, I don't think you would appreciate it if I came to your home and told you you've been doing things incorrectly and need to change, you would be upset correct?" She asked rhetorically, she could see the words have an effect on the brunette; she clearly wasn't expecting this level of response.

"But you're mistreating house elves.' She weakly defended; Daphne figured Granger was trying to find some sort of leg to stand on by this point.

"Yes, there are families that mistreat them, again Malfoys being one of them, but for each family that does mistreat them, there's five more that don't. Take my family, for instance, we have two with us, and I've known them since I was a baby, I have nothing but fond memories with them, playing with me, helping me with my wild magic, and celebrating the holidays with them. " She explained, she saw Granger about to say something else but raised her hand to stop.

"I know what you are going to say, they're still enslaved, but that's because if they don't they die." Daphne explained, she could see the look of confusion on Grangers face. "A house elf magic is tied to whichever family they bond with, if there wasn't a connection then the house elf would lose its magic, and if enough time goes by they die." Her words struck a chord with Granger as she couldn't hide the look of shock on her face.

"Why didn't anyone tell me that?" Granger seemed to be on the verge of tears by this news, as much as Daphne wanted to enjoy the moment she couldn't help but feel sympathy for the girl, her crusade was full of good intentions, but there was a lot of things she didn't understand about the wizarding world, hopefully that would come as she continued to study at Hogwarts.

"We tried to, or specifically Scarlet and to a lesser extent Ron as well, but you were so adamant about it you didn't listen to your friends. If you had somehow succeeded in freeing them then they wouldn't know what to do, their sole purpose in life gone, they would soon die. " She said morbidly, at this point at anger from earlier was gone and both girls seemed quiet, and unsure where to go from here.

Daphne reflected back to earlier conversations with Shade, how he mentioned how much the two girls would get along if it weren't for the issues between them. She knew she had merit in her argument, but the look the brunette was giving made her feel bad for the way she said it. She realized then that Tracey and Scarlet were right, she had her head up her arse and should've brought this up sooner instead of letting it build up. "Listen, Granger, I'm sorry."

Granger looked up at her with a few tears dropping. "For what? You're right." She quietly muttered.

"I know, but I shouldn't have yelled at you like that, maybe I should have talked about it earlier." She explained.

Granger wiped the tears away from her eyes and looked up at the blonde with a small smile. "Its okay, I learned last year I can be a bit stubborn for my own good, I'm just glad I didn't realize it in front of an angry troll." The brunette remarked, Daphne remembered the night as Scarlet told Tracey and her.

"I've been told I'm rather stubborn myself, maybe Scarlet is right, we are alike." Daphne shuddered at the thought that the boy was right…again. She could imagine the grin he'd make finding out about this. ' _Yup, I'm definitely going to smack him next time I see him._ '

"Be thankful it's him and not Ronald, the one time he was right he got up on the table in the common room and did a ghastly dance, its forever sketched in my mind." Granger had her hands on her head and shook it amusingly.

Daphne couldn't help but giggle. "The day that boy outwits me is the day I'm not worthy of being in Slytherin." She joked, soon both girls were laughing, and the earlier tension was gone.

XXX

Hermione found it difficult to comprehend that in just ten minutes she had gone from hating the Greengrass, to now actually joking with her. As much as she wanted to let go her anger towards her there was still something on her mind that she needed to be answered.

"Greengrass, I mean Daphne. Can I ask you a question, and can you answer it honestly?" She asked.

Daphne soon stopped her laughing and looked at her. "If it isn't too personal than yes." She answered.

Hermione bit her lip, this was going against everything she believed in the past few months, and she felt really foolish doing it, but she needed to do this! She looked up at Daphne and gave her a determined look.

"Are you the Heir of Slytherin?" The last thing Hermione expected was for Greengrass to laugh at that question, she expected her to get offended by it.

When the girl finally calmed down and looked at her that's when her demeanor changed. "You're actually serious aren't you?" Daphne asked.

"There are certain things that led me to that conclusion, the criteria you insisted on working on found you to be a match, and the most obvious being is that you lied about seeing Percy the night he was found petrified." She explained, she saw the girl about to defend herself but she interrupted. "Harry saw you that night, he stumbled upon you two having a disagreement."

Hermione was having difficulty trying to figure out how the blonde was feeling, true to the rumors her facial expression gave nothing away. Eventually, she heard her quietly curse before speaking to her.

"Calling it a disagreement is being polite." She admitted, she looked around in thought before continuing. "He cornered me that night, I could tell straight away he was upset, and then he started spewing lies and accusations at me, I don't take too kindly to people disrespecting me like that."

"Why didn't you say anything? Harry had asked you if you saw him that night and you denied it." Hermione asked she was more curious than accusing her at this point.

"Considering I didn't have a strong relationship with you, Ron and Harry I was concerned you would've immediately blamed me, and that would've thrown off our investigation." She saw her sigh, and for the first time, she looked tired. "As for the criteria it was partly because I was more educated on students in Slytherin, and selfishly I knew my name would come up and I didn't want that. I guess it only fuelled more distrust, I realize that now. I'm sorry." Daphne admitted.

It sounded silly, but Hermione trusted what was told to her, despite the fact she was ready to hex the girl not too long ago, she couldn't help but believe her. For the first time, she felt as though she was meeting the same witch Scarlet had praised since the first year. Especially since she heard Greengrass can be most stubborn, so admitting she made a mistake had to be truthful.

"As much as I want to say I wouldn't do that, I did suspect you of being heir despite not having proof. I let my personal grudge affect my perception of you and that wasn't right of me." She admitted, she raised her arm over the table and held out her hand.

"Why don't we start over and actually work together in this alliance." She offered, Hermione was hoping the Slytherin would be just as receptive, she saw Daphne stare at her hand for a few moments before joining her.

"To a fresh start?" Daphne suggested.

"To a fresh start." Hermione echoed in agreement.

For the first time since the beginning of the school year she felt at peace, yes there was still a major crisis going outside but finally dealing with her feelings toward Daphne and settling them was a relief. She often considered her mind to be her greatest asset, but often it became her worst enemy. For a while, she'd come up with dark thoughts, filled with accusations, and venom toward the girl across from her, and now she realized how much it clouded her judgment, she felt terrible for the way she reacted.

It was to her surprise that Daphne didn't seem to take pleasure from her devastated state, instead she seemed sympathetic, and instead of talking down to her as she usually did, actually informed her without coming off as condescending. She had a new appreciation for her and now could see the witch Scarlet and even Tracey was telling her about.

She was broken out of her thoughts as she saw a red blur passed by their table, a quick look and she recognized the blur as Ginny. The red head had kept to herself for the past few months, the boys had made an effort to talk to her but she wasn't receptive, she stood up and walked over, she wasn't close to the girl but maybe she would feel more comfortable talking to another witch.

She noticed that Daphne was following her; ' _maybe another witch would be helpful._ ' She thought to herself.

She quickly found Ginny in an empty aisle; the redhead was going through a potions book and didn't notice their presence. She tapped her shoulder getting her attention, she noticed her flinch in reaction. The younger girl turned around and saw Daphne and her.

"Hi." She said quietly not looking either of them in the eye.

"Hi Ginny, Daphne and I just wanted to check up on you, you seemed to spend a lot more time in the library." Hermione said trying to make small talk.

Ginny looked over at her and then glanced at the blonde behind her, a frown forming on her face noticing the Slytherin student.

"It's alright Ginny, Daphne's my…friend." Hermione was unsure what the status of their relationship was but figured it would put Ginny at ease if she knew Daphne was no threat.

"I'm alright, I'm left alone at the library." She muttered.

Hermione couldn't help but frown at her, since coming to Hogwarts the girl has become more reclusive, she didn't see the girl that was jumping with excitement to meet Lockhart, or couldn't stop talking about Hogwarts on the train. Now she was withdrawn and quiet, her heart broke for Ginny.

"I know it been difficult, but the mandrakes should be finished soon, I heard maybe even today it'll be ready, and you'll have your brothers back." Hermione said trying to make the girl feel better.

It worked as a small smile formed on her face. "That's great to hear Hermione, I missed them dearly." She spoke up.

Hermione was happy that made the girl feel better, but she couldn't help feel something else was bothering the first year.

"I know we don't know one another Ginny, but I have a sister in the same year as you, you may know her Astoria Greengrass?" Daphne joined in walking closer to the younger girl.

Ginny seemed to think for a moment before a look of recognition hit her. "Yes, I know her, she's in Slytherin too."

Daphne smiled at that. "Yes she is, and I talk to her every day about what's going on, I know for her she can easily be overwhelmed, so I'm glad I can help her by talking about her problems because that's my job as a big sister."

Hermione could see what Greengrass was doing, she was trying to connect with Ginny by comparing her relationship with her sister to Ginny, hoping the girl would open up. It was both brilliant, and compassionate of Daphne to do that, she was seeing a different side of the girl more and more.

Daphne's approach seemed to work as Ginny nodded to her. "Its just a lot to handle, with my brothers, and the work, I thought my first year at Hogwarts would be amazing, but…" She stopped suddenly looking sad again.

"Then your brothers got petrified." Hermione finished quietly.

Ginny nodded again, Hermione thought the mention of her brother would quiet the girl but she was pleasantly surprised when she continued.

"There's something else too." Ginny continued. That peaked both of the girl's interest. "I feel like something's been following me, wherever I go I can feel someone's eyes on me. Its why I've been going to the library more often, it's the only place I feel safe." She younger girl wrapped her arms around herself.

Hermione gave a knowing look to Daphne. Both girls had an idea what the Ginny was talking about. Scarlet wanted the girl not to feel tied down to him, so he had been keeping a distance from Ginny unbeknown to her. Though it seemed he wasn't as sneaky as he thought, the fact Ginny had felt his presence every day. It was all their plan, and she felt horrible knowing she'd caused the girl unnecessary stress.

"I'm sorry Ginny, we were all scared that you might be next, so Scarlet volunteered to keep an eye on you." Hermione explained.

The girl had a troubled look on her face; soon she started shaking her head. "No, no, no you don't get it! Scarlets been –"

A loud scream interrupted the girl and all three had to cover their ears. They felt the room started to shake as something enormous crashed onto the floor; all three lost their balance and landed on the floor. Books soon fell off the shelves and landed on them and on the floor.

"What's going on?" Daphne asked getting up, she pulled Ginny and Hermione up as they run over to the commotion, they could hear desks and chairs being thrown around and more screaming they soon reached the end of the aisle, and all three couldn't stop the look of shock at the sight.

A giant snake was in the middle of the library, it was the largest creature Hermione had ever seen, and it must've been over 50 feet long. Its skin the colour of poisonous green making it looks even more intimidating.

It soon barred its many fangs and charged at a group of students who were crowded around the entrance to the library.

"It won't open someone locked the door!" A student yelled pulling on the door.

Madam Pince stood in front of the beast shielding the students, keeping her eyes down and cast curse after curse on the serpent, all just bounced off the creature and it wasn't long before the creature was in front of her, she hardly reacted as the creature forced her to look up at its eyes, and Hermione saw her become frozen solid!

The students grouped together by the entrance screamed at this and all ran in separate directions, giving up on trying to open the door. The creature just roared shaking the library and soon charged at the remaining students petrifying them.

Hermione couldn't help but watch as her fellow classmates were being petrified one by one. _'We were going up against that!? How can we stop a bloody basilisk?_ ' She was broken out of her panic state from Daphne shaking her shoulder.

"We have to hide!" She whispered loudly, pulling the girl to the back of the library away from the chaos.

Hermione looked around and noticed Ginny was missing, she looked around frantically looking for her. "Where's Ginny!?"

"We have to go, she's a smart girl, and she'll hide." Daphne said pulling Hermione until they were at the back of the library.

"Granger the tables!" Daphne told her pulling out their wands.

Hermione quickly figured out what Greengrass was referring to and used her wand to bring all the tables and chairs around and over them creating a makeshift fort out of tables.

Despite the barricade, it didn't help them feel safe, as the screaming and roar of the basilisk could be heard all around them. It wouldn't be long before they were found, Hermione gulped at the thought the might die.

She looked over and saw Daphne bring out a mirror from her bag, she pointed it behind her so that she could get a look of what was going on outside.

It was then she got an idea, she dumped her bag on the floor desperate looking for a piece of parchment and anything to write with.

"What are you doing? Writing your will?" Daphne asked incredulously at the girl.

"If there are no survivors no one will know what attacked here." She argued writing frantically on anything she knew about the creature.

"Their gaze can either kill or petrify you. Along with being very poisonous, its venom can kill a full grown witch in minutes." Hermione wrote down everything Greengrass was telling her.

"Cure?" Hermione asked.

"Unless you have phoenix tears in your back pocket I wouldn't hold my breath." Daphne responded back not taking her eyes off the mirror.

Hermione was about to comment on that as she crumpled the paper in her hand when it suddenly became quiet. Both girls looked frightfully at one another but were scared to make the tiniest of movement. There was no sound of screaming, nor spells being fired, not even banging on the door trying to get it to open. Soon another noise was made that sent chills down their spines, the sound of the giant creature slithering along the floor.

Hermione figured it must've been looking for anyone hiding; she just hoped it wasn't intelligent enough to find them. Soon the sound became louder and she knew it was getting closer, a few moments later it sounded as if the beast was right on top of them. She saw Daphne cover her mouth with her hand as she was looking in the mirror, confirming her thoughts it was right outside.

Slowly Daphne took her eyes off the mirror and looked at the Hermione, tears were streaming down her face as she shook her head. Hermione's heart dropped at the implication of the girl's action.

She didn't have time to do anything else as numerous fangs broke through, the roof was soon ripped off and thrown against the wall, the basilisk found them.

 **Authors Notes: This entire scene in the library was so much longer than I originally anticipated, planning this story out this chapter would've included the aftermath but I felt this was a good place to stop.**

 **Another interesting fact is that the opening with Ron and Tracey was not originally planned either, in fact, I came up with it as I was finishing the last chapter. My goal was that I wanted to give a bit more depth to them as I felt as though those two characters hadn't gotten much development and plus it's a matchup that I haven't written before and wanted to see how it turns out.**

 **We finally found out the reason Daphne did not like Hermione, and this was in no way to bash her. Originally planning this I wanted to get the S.P.E.W storyline out of the way, but I thought how this could be an opportunity for growth for both characters. Another opportunity for Daphne to break out of her ice shell, and Hermione suffering a little humility, now she'll be a bit more self-aware of how she comes across, she'll still have a strong opinion, but I think she'll try to understand the wizarding world fully.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling**

Within the Shadows Ch 11

It was a tad unsettling watching most of the students in the Great Hall sending glares and angry looks his way. Well, more so to his tablemates than himself.

He'd originally made his way towards Gryffindor table for supper, however a few steps inside he locked eyes with Malfoy sitting on the Slytherin table, the blonde motioned for Scarlet to come over. It wasn't an odd request he'd sat at the Slytherin table a few times last year, but now things have changed, he knew Malfoy was helping the Heir with the attacks. He inwardly sighed, even if he knew Malfoy was assisting the Heir, he still needed to pretend they were still on a friendly basis to not give anything away.

He turned his direction towards the Slytherin table, he saw Tracey a few steps ahead of him about to sit down, he quickened his pace, grabbed her arm and pulled her with him.

"What the heck?" She half yelled at the sudden action, she looked like she was about to give him a piece of her mind before she realized who it was that grabbed her. She looked ahead and saw where they were walking.

"Play along." He whispered softly to her, Tracey nodded understanding him.

They reached the empty seats across from Malfoy and both sat down. A quick glance at Draco and he saw the irritated look on his face as he saw who he'd brought to sit with him.

"I hope you don't mind if Tracey sits with us, I promised her I would in exchange for her help with my potions essay." Scarlet quickly explained.

"Why didn't you ask Daphne to help, she's much better potions." Draco said. Scarlet didn't miss the subtle jab the blonde made towards his friend, he saw her shirk in her seat at the comment.

"Daphne is busy with her transfiguration project with Hermione." Scarlet explained, trying to get the attention off Davis.

"Poor Greengrass, I didn't know whether to laugh or pity her for being stuck with the mudblood." Theodore Nott chimed in, causing laughter amongst the nearby students.

Scarlet unconsciously curled his fist at the comment, worse was that he couldn't defend his friend from being insulted. He felt a hand clasp his fist and gently squeeze it, a quick look down and saw it was Tracey giving him support. He thanked Merlin for the quick idea to bring her with him.

"Working with Hermione gives her the best chance at an E, so she's willing to work with her." Tracey said trying to stop the current topic from continuing.

Malfoy grunted at her, unable to really argue with that point, he looked back at Scarlet. "A change is coming Scarlet." He told him.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow at the comment. "What kind of change?"

Malfoy smirked at his comment as if he was delighted in telling him. "A group is being formed. A group of influential purebloods, and a few half-bloods as well." He then looked around them, checking to see if anyone was eavesdropping. "A group led by the Heir of Slytherin." He finished.

It took a moment before Scarlet realized he was supposed to be surprised by this, he tapped Tracey on her leg reminding her as well before he widened his eyes at Malfoy. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Tracey cover her mouth with her hand.

The smirk on Draco's face grew at their looks. "Yes, it's a lot to take in, is for most people. The Heir sought me out first to help grow and lead this movement, and we discussed at length the Shade heir being a valuable member." He explained snapping his fingers.

Crabbe who was sitting right beside Malfoy was startled for a moment, before realizing this was his cue as he reached within his robes. Eventually pulling out a rolled up piece of parchment and handing it over to Malfoy.

Scarlet was a bit surprised Malfoy was freely giving out this information, especially in the Great Hall of all places, but that's when he noticed the students sitting in the surrounding area of them. All of them he easily recognized from the meeting he attended with Daphne, others with pureblood students who shared the same reputation as Malfoy, so it wasn't far fetched to believe they'd been recruited as well.

"Has everyone here met the Heir?" He asked, if he was being propositioned to join then they may very well lead him and his alliance straight to the Heir.

A couple of the students shook their heads and turned to see if anyone would raise their hands, however, none of them did.

"Of course none of them have, the Heir is far too busy to speak to everyone, and is only in communication with me." Malfoy gloated sitting up a tad straighter.

"Draco promised us we would eventually meet him." Pansy Parkinson said cheerfully.

"But that was months ago!" A student interrupted a fourth-year student Scarlet thought. "You keep saying we'll meet him, but it's nearly the end of the school year." He said glaring at Malfoy.

Murmurs of agreement were shared between the students, and soon the students started to voice their own displeasures directed at Malfoy.

Scarlet inwardly smiled at this turn of events, he had no idea this would happen, he was under the impression everyone was blindly following Malfoy, but now to see the cracks in this cult, it made him feel better about breaking this up.

He looked back over to Malfoy, he saw the blondes face becoming more and more red, clearly irritated by the numerous questions and comments. "Silence!" He snapped, banging his fists on the table.

Everyone stopped talking at the outburst, the younger students had a small look of fear on their faces, while the older ones seem annoyed to be talked too like that.

Scarlet looked around to see how many students the outburst attracted and was surprised to see the students at the neighboring table continuing minding their own business. He wasn't sure but he figured someone must've placed a privacy charm when he sat down.

"I am the leader of this group, once the Heir's plans come to fruition then he will address all of you." Malfoy seethed, he seemed to be trying very hard to maintain what little composure he has left after snapping. "He has no time for all of you at the moment, but I assure you all he will make his presence known to all his followers. Is that clear?" Nods of support were giving and Malfoy seemed pleased to have everyone back in line.

Malfoy unrolled the parchment slid it over to him.

Scarlet looked down at the parchment and saw that a list of names was written on it. Names he recognized comprised mostly of Slytherins. What was disturbing was he recognized a few names from the other houses.

"This is a list of students who have sworn their loyalty towards the Heir, it's not an unbreakable vow or binding, that'll be when the Heir finally reveals himself." Malfoy explained.

"So is this a formal invitation to join?" Scarlet asked.

"I'm presenting you with an opportunity, to join a revolution." Malfoy motioned to everyone around him. "Look around, everyone here has been where you are."

Scarlet raised an eyebrow at that statement. "I highly doubt that." He responded crossing his arms. He didn't mean to sound defensive and rude, but with his childhood experience being the main focus of his thoughts lately, it made him more irritated when brought up.

Malfoy to his credit didn't seem offended by his response if anything he seemed to take it as a challenge. "Maybe not exact events as you, but we've all shared the same emotional turmoil, especially by our parents."

He leaned forward and spoke quietly. "See most of us is the heir or heiress of former death eaters."

Scarlet was well aware of the term _death eaters_ , from what he read and was explained briefly by Tonks they were the bulk of the Dark Lord's army. Wizards and Witches wearing dark robes, and scary masks tasked with spreading fear and chaos in Britain.

The most disturbing aspect about them was they wore the dark mark. A tattoo on their left wrists depicting a snake emerging from the mouth of a skull. He'd seen pictures of it on books detailing the wizarding world. It sent chills down his spine even looking at a photo, as he could almost imagine it moving, he just hoped he'd never see one in person in his lifetime. Even after they lost the war witches like Bellatrix LeStrange continued to feel pride having it permanently on them. Others like Lucius Malfoy made sure to hide it all costs.

"For most of our lives, we've heard our parents speak with pride how they were apart of their own revolution, how they were going to change the world." Malfoy explained, but then a frown formed on his face. "Now all they do is look at the next generation of purebloods as disappointments no matter what we do or accomplish as if were disrespecting what they tried so hard to achieve." Malfoy explained, and Scarlet could see the boys hands clenched in a fist. "Your parents may have been neutral in the past war but surely at some point, they must've looked at you as nothing but disappointing, how you could never be what they wanted no matter what you did."

Flashbacks of Scarlet's life popped into his head. Memories of how his dad looked at him that first day in the playground, how each day passed and that look of hopefulness turned into anger, anger directed at him. How each day they tried so hard to try and change who he was. Even he tried to change as well, but it wasn't enough as they continued to stare at him like he was the worst thing they ever saw.

"Nott here was beaten repeatedly by his father last summer when he found out Granger scored higher grades than him, and same for a few others." Malfoy motioned his head toward Theodore Nott.

More memories appeared before Scarlet. Reliving each different way they caused him pain, with their fists, lashed by belts, slashed with knives, splashed with holy water, and the worst of all being burned by that freaking cross. He narrowed his eyes in anger, as each one passed through his eyes.

Malfoy seeing that he was reaching Scarlet continued. "That's why I'm doing this Scarlet, why all of us are doing this. We're tired of our parents, mudbloods, and blood traitors looking down at us and deciding what's better for us, how they want our lives to be run, that we should be striving to appease them than ourselves, we want to take our freedom back!" He finished by bringing out a quill and placing beside the parchment in front of him. "Join us Shade, and get back your life."

It was scary to admit how tempting it was to write down his name on his parchment, and as a memory of being burned flashed before him he grabbed the quill and looked hard at it. Everything Malfoy said to him connected on a very personal level, he'd experienced to some degree everything he went through.

Again it seemed he underestimated the Slytherin students, at first he believed they were just spoiled based on their lifestyle, then during the holidays, he saw first hand how much their parents truly influenced them, the amount of hatred and bigotry they had towards Muggle-borns and half-bloods. Now to hear why they're doing this flipped his perception again, how this was more than simple racism.

He wanted to scoff at the invitation, he was leading the Shadow Alliance, whose goal is to thwart Malfoys group of blood supremacist. Now he seemed unsure. ' _Why am I doing this?_ ' He questioned himself.

Scarlet wanted to chop it off to doing the right thing, how it was good vs evil, but that wasn't it, and it wasn't that black and white. Yes, part of it was seeing the effect it had on Ron, but he and Ron weren't close friends at the time he started this.

He started to think how maybe he had been looking at this year through biased perception. He had somehow been sucked into this trivial good vs evil, Gryffindor vs Slytherin, something in the first year he vowed not to do, but here he was.

Yes, Malfoys and the Heirs tactics were the wrong way to go about it, but the message they were giving to their followers spoke to him. He could relate to almost everything Malfoy just described, every instance where Scarlet was mistreated for who he was. Then another thought occurred to him since his parent's death, a few idiots decided what was best for him, by placing him in muggles care. Not bothering to do a background check, he inwardly scoffed at the thought they might've just dropped him on their doorstep with nothing but a freaking note!

Scarlets blood was boiling, and he was trying very hard to control his emotions, he didn't want to in case this entire table in ice. He grabbed the quill hastily and eyed the parchment for an empty spot to write his name. He hovered the quill over the parchment ready to sign. ' _No one, will decide how I should live my life anymore.'_ He vowed.

Before he could sign his name he saw the parchment yanked from him, he saw Malfoy quickly rolling it up and hiding it in his robes. He was about to voice his displeasure for this before a voice spoke up behind him.

"Shade, Davis." Someone said.

Scarlet looked behind him and he saw his potions professor standing a few feet away. His first thought was that Snape was displeased with him sitting here, but he didn't look upset, or normally upset when he's interacting with students, he seemed different.

"Yes, professor?" Davis spoke up.

"Yours and Shades presence are needed, follow me." Snape drawled, not even elaborating on why before he started walking away towards the Great Hall entrance.

He looked over at Tracey to see if she had any idea on why Snape wanted them, but she seemed just as unsure. He gave a quick glance to Malfoy and couldn't read the expression on his face, but as he started to follow Snape he saw the blonde mouth "Soon."

XXX

The walk out of the Great Hall was quiet, Snape hadn't said anything more on why they were summoned and they knew asking this particular professor wouldn't give them anything.

Scarlet noticed Tracey slowed down her steps to distance herself, Professorssor Snape, he matched her pace to stay close beside her.

"It's a good thing Snape showed up when he did, it was hard to watch you pretend to join them." Tracey whispered to him, worry evident on her face.

"Yes, it was difficult to play along." Scarlet lied, he felt bad about deceiving his friend, but a big part of him really understood Malfoy and the other Slytherins point of view, she wouldn't understand.

"I mean I could feel a little sympathy towards them, especially with what I heard about Nott, but there's no way any good person could side with them." Tracey said.

' _Spoken like someone who hasn't dealt with true hardships in their life._ ' Scarlet thought bitterly. He decided not to speak any more, in worry that she might pick up on his true feelings.

After a couple of minutes, they soon reached the entrance to the infirmary, both Davis and Shade were confused on why they were brought here, what was even more odd was that there was a large group standing in front of it. Most of them were students but Scarlet recognized the other three heads of houses.

"Thank you Snape for bringing the last students." Professor McGongall said tiredly. From the look on her face, she seemed exhausted, very unlike her.

The other professors seemed just as down and just as exhausted as she was. A pit started to form in his stomach, he didn't like where this was going.

"Professor, why were we all brought here?" Susan Bones asked.

A sad look formed on McGonagall's face, and she seemed rather hesitant to answer her question, she took a heavy sigh and looked at her. "Professor Dumbledore is addressing the rest of the students the shocking news I'm about to share, but the other heads and I felt it was better if we shared this news to you all separately. There was another attack."

Mayhem ensued as they learned another student was petrified, numerous questions were being asked on who it was, or where it happened, it seemed even the professors were overwhelmed by all of it.

Scarlet soon noticed that Harry and Ron were also here, he continued to look for his bushy-haired friend but didn't see her, he mouthed to Potter where Hermione was but both boys just shrugged. Daphne wasn't here as well, but considering Tracey appeared to be the only other Slytherin here he wasn't as curious to where she was.

"Silence!" Professor Snape yelled.

That quickly quieted down all the students, more so in fear for the man. McGonagall gave him a quick thank you. "There was an attack in the library, we only just discovered this travesty an hour ago."

Scarlet stiffened at the mention of where the attack took place, the same place he'd last seen Hermione and Daphne. He looked over and saw Tracey shaking, obviously coming to the same thought as him.

"Who was it?" A fifth-year Ravenclaw asked.

McGonagall had a pained looked on her face. "Not who mister Rogers, but whom. We discovered numerous students petrified in the library, all of which are being treated behind this door, we brought you all here so that you would be the first to see them. I must warn you, for those of you who've never seen a petrified body it can be quite a shock. She walked over and opened the doors, ushering them inside.

Tracey brushed past him, and he quickly followed behind. ' _They're smart witches, no way they would get caught in all this, they would hide._ ' Scarlet thought to himself, trying to make himself feel better.

Not once since his time here at Hogwarts had he seen each bed in the infirmary used up, there were rows and rows of occupied beds of the petrified students. He couldn't hide the shock from his face, there was so many! With each bed, there were three or four students broken down in grief, horrified at what had become of their friends. He saw Bones clutching Abbott's frozen hand and tears streaming down their faces, other students were in denial and shaking the petrified bodies as if they were just asleep.

Scarlet soon reached the last row and his heart stopped. Daphne and Hermione laid motionless, in beds right beside each other, fear clearly evident in their faces. ' _No!_ '. He almost couldn't believe it, the two people he cared about the most in here, gone. He saw Tracey just in front of him standing beside Daphne, he saw her shoulders shaking he knew she was crying.

"Tracey, I'm so sorry." He said trying to comfort her.

She turned around and he saw the tears streaming down her face, Scarlets heart broke as he'd never seen his friend so upset, she quickly walked over and enveloped him in a hug, crying into his shirt. He quickly reciprocated, wrapping her in a hug, and rubbing his hands up and down her back.

It was in that moment Scarlet thought how thick he was being, he couldn't believe he'd almost joined a group which did this! He knew why he formed the alliance, why he was fighting so hard, it was to protect his friends. When Hermione was first called a mudblood, he felt that urge to shield his friend. But now standing where he was, he failed.

He saw Ron and Harry walking over to Hermione's bed, both dishearten at the state their friend was in. Ron could barely stand as he leaned heavily on a chair, while Harry seemed in shock as he carefully reached over touched her hand, almost as if he thought the person in the bed wasn't real.

It wasn't long before Scarlet heard the tears stop, but Tracey still held on to him tightly. He couldn't imagine what Tracey was going through, Daphne and her had known each other since they were in nappies, they grew up together and were practically sisters. He knew with Daphne gone Tracey was clinging to him because he was all she had left. No disrespect to Ron and Harry but they still weren't that close to her.

"Its my fault." She muffled shaking her head, he leaned back a bit to looked at her in the face, her eyes were red, and there were tear stains on her cheek.

"What do you mean?" He asked softly.

She bit her lip and looked back towards their petrified friend. "It's my fault she got petrified." Scarlet was quick ready to argue but she shook her head. "We were studying in the library and I saw you three had just left, I've been trying so hard to get Hermione and Daphne to get along, so I abandoned her in there to follow you guys." She looked like she was holding off more tears as she spoke. "If I had been there for my friend, instead of being selfish maybe I could've done something, maybe I would have sacrificed myself so she could still be here."

"There was nothing you could've done Tracey." Scarlet said bluntly. The girl looked ready to vex him but he continued. "If you were there you would've been petrified as well, if anything Daphne would've been concerned about protecting you and would've gotten petrified regardless." He explained softly.

Tracey let go of him and walked over to the bed and held Daphne's hand, hoping for some form of comfort. Scarlet walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're right." She said quietly. "Daphne's always been looking out for me, even though I'm the oldest she's always been a big sister to me. Especially when we got sorted together she made sure no one in Slytherin picked on me." She smiled as she remembered the memory.

"Gave them the iconic Ice Queen stare." Scarlet commented, fondly remembering Daphne telling him that story.

The joke worked as Tracey gave him a small smile. "I hope petrified students can't hear things, or else Daphne's going to smack you."

"I'll be ready when we save her." Scarlet smiled back, but soon Tracey seemed to deflate at his words. "What's wrong?"

"How can we save her? These two were the smartest witches in our group and we lost them, I don't know how the four of us can do it?" Tracey argued.

Scarlet felt similar, Daphne and Hermione were the two smartest witches he knew. He had similar grades as them sure, but with those two on his side, it gave him confidence that they could make it out on top. Now he was feeling unsure.

"We'll find a way." They looked over and saw Ron and Harry walking over to them. "I know if it was the other way around Hermione would be busy going through books to figure out a way to help us." Ron commented.

Tracey had a small smile at his words. "Yeah, if Daphne was ever faced with a problem she'd go through any book she knew until she was satisfied with a solution, she wouldn't just sit there and wait." She rubbed her eyes with her sleeves to get rid of her tears.

"If were going to do something it has to be now, you remember what Daphne told us, a group of Aurors are on their way to close down the school, and going to send everyone home tomorrow." Scarlet reminded them, they were running out of time.

"Well, what do we do?" Tracey asked.

"We speak to Hagrid, he was here when the chamber was first opened, and the only option we have left." Harry said, they hadn't confronted the gameskeeper till now because they felt the idea of him being the Heir was ludicrous, but now with only a few hours left they had no other choice.

Everyone nodded in agreement and started to walk out, Scarlet looked back at his two friends on the bed, a troubled looked on his face. "I'll meet you outside, I just need a quick moment." He told them.

"Sure, we'll be outside waiting." Harry nodded in understanding, and he and everyone else started walking away, with Tracey giving Scarlet a small smile.

Scarlet took a long deep breath before walking back over to them. It took everything in him to not collapse on the floor, but with Daphne and Hermione gone, the rest of his friends were looking at him as their rock. He had to be strong for them, but at this point, it was just another emotion to bottle up.

"I'm so sorry I failed both of you, you both looked at me as some sort of leader, and in the end, I couldn't protect you both." Scarlet closed his eyes trying very hard to not break down, not right now. "You both meant everything to me, everything. You were the first two friends my age that I met, and accepted who I was, and I should've said something more, told you both how much you meant to me, but like I always do I bottled my emotions inside."

Scarlet raised his hand gently and held Daphne's hand, the same one that was holding the mirror he gave her on her birthday. He remembered the smile she had on her face the day he gave it to her, it was a silly gift and she probably had dozens of mirrors but she loved it so much. To see something that brought so much joy to her, and to imagine how terrified she was holding it before she was attacked was just another jab at him.

"I'll look out for Tracey for you, I promise she'll not join the same fate as you." He gave Daphne one last look before walking over to Hermione's bed side.

It was hard to look at Hermione's frozen state, considering the last interactions he had with her. He felt a lot of guilt now as the thought of the last memory she may have of him was him being a jerk and brushing her off.

"I should've done this a long time ago, but I was acting so thick at the time." He shook his head at the memory of him walking away from her back in the hallway, he still remembered the sad look she gave him as he left, he should've walked back, talked to her, anything, but he was a coward and ran away from the situation.

"I was so angry, angry at my parents, angry at my life, the nightmares, and so much more. Here you come trying to give me what I needed, and how did I repay you? By unleashing my anger onto to you."

Scarlet felt even more guilty, as he was about to sign his life away to a mad man. He was angry at the world for how he was treated and wanted everyone to feel the same pain he felt. Looking around the infirmary he knew how wrong that was, to see the students grieving for the loss of their friends, it was tough to watch.

He remembered why he was fighting so hard to stop the Heir of Slytherin, to protect the people he cared about. "I lost one family, and I won't lose another. I promise both of you we'll stop him." Scarlet promised them and himself.

He squeezed Hermione's hand, hoping that somehow his words got through to her, and hoping that somehow she could still help him.

XXX

Despite the loud commotion going on in the infirmary, it was eerily quiet outside. No one had said anything once the doors were closed. Harry was too busy trying to process the image of his friends blank stares looking back at him. He could only imagine Ron and Tracey were trying their best to cope as well, and Scarlet? Harry had no clue how he was handling this. The boy was very withdrawn, he'd never expressed a lot of power in his emotions, but he knew he was hurting. Despite not showing them he knew Shade was just as vulnerable as they all were, but they still had each other, and he needed to make sure they all knew that.

The door to the infirmary opened, Harry thought Scarlet was finally done, but he was disappointed to see it was their Transfiguration professor. She gave them all a sad smile, he knew she was hurting just as much as the rest of them.

"I'm so sorry, as teachers it's our responsibilities to protect you, and I've felt I've failed you." She apoligzed, and Harry could see how much toll this had on her, her shoulders were sagged, and her face looked as if she aged ten years.

"It's not your fault professor, Madam Pince was in the library as well, there would've been nothing you could've done." Tracey consoled. "Besides, you said the Mandrakes should be ready soon, so hopefully they'll be back quickly.

"Thank you miss Davis, but regardless I still feel blame. Because of our failure, the school will be shut down." McGonagall told them sadly.

"For how long?" Harry asked nervously.

"I don't know, a group of Aurors are here at the castle now to make sure you all are escorted home safely, but it's most likely Hogwarts will be closed for years." She explained to them.

"What if they find the heir soon?" Ron asked hopefully.

Professor McGonagall seemed to think for a moment but shook her head. "I'm afraid the Minister of Magic is getting the official paperwork done to officially close down the school. Once he's signed off on it in a few hours it'll be too late." She explained carefully.

"I'm sorry I did not wish to discuss these dark matters with you, I had something else I needed to address to you." She said changing the topic. "There was one survivor in the library."

Harry's eyes widen at that, if someone actually survived the attack then they would know to be able to tell them who was petrifying the students, this is what they needed!

"Who was it?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Ginny Weasley." McGonagall said. "She was found hiding in a cupboard in the corner of the room, the poor girl was too scared to say anything."

"Where is she, I need to see her!" Ron demanded, Harry could see the protectiveness Ron had.

"I'm afraid that's what I came to discuss with you, she's disappeared. We left her in the care of Madam Pomfrey while we gathered all of you, when we came back Pomfrey came to me that young Ginny has disappeared." She explained. "I was hoping you knew where she was, or have an idea to where she might be? The young girl was so scared, I'm worried what being alone could do to her."

"I, I, I don't know where she might be." Harry could hear the worry in Rons voice.

"I figured as much, hopefully, she's just in the Gryffindor common room. If you'll excuse me I'll head over there now." McGonagall excused herself.

"We have to go find her!" Ron started to walk off before Harry reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Ron we'll find her we just have to wait for Scarlet." Harry said trying to calm him down, they needed to stick together.

"But my sister is out there, she needs me!" Ron yelled, he tried to pull but Harry held firm.

"We'll find her, but we need a plan first." Harry said trying to make his friend see reason. Ron stared at him for a few more moments he nodded begrudgingly.

They soon heard the door open again and Scarlet stepped out, he looked very tired, and his eyes were slightly red, Harry had never seen his friend like this before, but he knew what happened had affected all of them very much.

"Thanks for waiting, lets go to Hagrids Hut." Scarlet said getting straight to business, Harry shared a look with Ron before speaking.

"There's a small problem Scarlet." Harry said getting his attention. "Ginny is missing."

"She's probably in the common room, every student is either in their respective rooms or here in the infirmary." Scarlet responded logically.

"Professor McGonagall just told us Ginny is missing, she survived the attack in the library, and ran off afterwards." Harry explained to him.

Scarlet narrowed his eyes in thought. "Fine, we can look for her after we talk to Hagrid." Scarlet decided.

"But my sisters in danger, that thing has a map and will know she's alone." Ron argued.

"If we don't talk to Hagrid we may lose our only chance." Harry argued back.

"The Aurors are either here or going to be soon, we won't have much time to wander off before someone notices our disappearance." Tracey joined in.

Ron looked ready to start yelling, his face was very red, and his nostrils were flaring.

"I'll look for her." Scarlet offered, much to the surprise of everyone. "We don't have much time, you three go talk to Hagrid and I'll find Ginny."

"But Scarlet it's too dangerous to wander the castle by yourself. What if the Heir attacks, you won't have anyone watching your back." Tracey said worriedly.

"I'll be fine Tracey, besides we don't have much time, I can easily travel through the castle with my metamorphmagus abilities, also I've been following Ginny for months now I'm positive I can find her quickly." Scarlet reassured her.

"Alright, after you find her meet us at Hagrids as soon as possible." Harry told Scarlet.

The boy just nodded back and he looked over at Ron. "Don't worry I'll find her. Trust me, when we regroup we'll stop the Heir once and for all." He told them before running off in the opposite direction.

He saw Tracey had a conflicted look in her eyes, it seemed as though she was deciding whether or not to follow him. He placed a hand on her shoulder grabbing her attention. "Come on, if anyone can take care of themselves its Scarlet, lets go."

She bit her lip as she looked back to where Scarlet used to be, she sighed before looking back and nodded back to him. "Alright, let's save our friends."

Harry couldn't help but smile back at her determination. "Lets go."

XXX

Malfoy was furious. Since the beginning of their partnership, the heir had kept an open discussion on their plans, until now. The attack on the library was not something he was told about, and what was worse was that he had petrified someone in his own house, a pureblood! He seethed at the idea of the heir overstepping his place, he was going to demand answers.

He soon reached his destination and opened the door, he walked inside and found the person he was looking for. The Heirs back was turned to him as he seemed to be looking at the old map they'd stolen from one of the Weasley boys. Eventually, he seemed satisfied with what he saw before rolling it up and putting it away in his robes. He turned around and saw Draco standing in the doorway. He frowned at him.

" **I didn't request your presence boy.** **Aurors are on their way I can't afford you to lead them right to me. Leave!** " He hissed at him.

Normally Draco would've been to nervous to stay any longer in his presence, but he was beyond thinking logically, he demanded answers. "No, you didn't tell me about the attack in the library, I demand to know why." He argued.

Draco heard the Heir scoff at him. " **I have more important issues to handle.** " The Heir barked at him before walking past him heading to the door.

Undeterred Malfoy grabbed the heirs robes stopping him in his tracks. He looked up and glared at the hooded figure. "Not before you explain to me why you did that! You petrified someone in our group!" He seethed.

The Heir ripped his robes out of the boys grips and glared down at him. " **Watch your tongue boy, before I choose to take it**." It threatened.

"Were equals, I will not stand for you treat me as your underling" Malfoy barked back.

The heir smirked at him, and soon laughed at him. " **Equals?"** It asked shaking his head at him. " **Were not equals, not even close, I'm the descendant of the great Salazar Slytherin, you're just another pureblood who relies on his parents money and influence.** "

Before he could even think Malfoy reached into his robes and pulled out his wand. "Ex-" He choked as the heirs hand wrapped around his throat. He lifted him into the air the heir bringing his face to close to his.

" **I don't care if a pureblood was petrified, every single pureblood can be petrified, all that matters is that I get what I want.** " It explained while tightening its hold.

If Malfoy wasn't busy struggling he would've been able to hear a slithering sound behind him, but he was too busy trying to loosens the Heirs grip. "You need me." He struggled to get out.

The heir just gave him a sadistic smile before shaking his head. " **No, not anymore. You've already gathered me numerous followers. Now that you blindly convinced them to pursue my cause you're just another soldier, expendable to me as any other worthless wizard.** "

Malfoy couldn't believe what he was hearing, everything he was told was just a lie! He'd been used in this sick man's game of chess.

" **Though I am a merciful lord, I think I'll spare your life for being such a great help.** " That's when he started to hear a slithering sound behind him, he continue to claw frantically at the heirs arm trying to get him to let go. " **Though I can't have you spoiling my plan to Dumbledore or anyone else in this school, which is why you'll be another tragic victim to my pet.** " The heir uttered darkly.

From the shadows on the wall he could see something large rise behind him, he heard it make a hissing sound. ' _What have I done?_ '

Out of desperation, Malfoy attempted to kick the man, he reared his leg back and swiftly kicked the Heir in the face, startling him. Unfortunately, he didn't let go but saw he'd knocked the hood back, and for the first time, he saw the person underneath. His eyes widened as he recognized the person. ' _I can't believe that's who the heir is! It's-"_ The memory of the Heirs identity was the last thing Malfoy saw before it went black.

XXX

Scarlet was starting to get worried, he'd run all over the castle but still couldn't find Ginny anywhere. She wasn't at her usual spots, or nowhere near Gryffindor tower. As confident as he sounded, it was more so to make the trio feel better leaving him alone. They needed answers, but they couldn't waste time playing hide and seek with Ginny.

He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, he was physically and emotionally tired, he needed to find this girl now before he dropped dead. He knew he had one last place to look. It was a long shot, but he had a gut feeling about it, and at this point had nothing else to lose. He got up off the wall and ran down the hallway.

It wasn't long before he reached the dungeons, he'd use to enjoy coming down here. Often the hallways were deserted as most students preferred to stay up top. But since the heirs attack on him and his friends, it left him feeling uncomfortable. Like there was something out here watching him.

He soon reached the classroom the Shadow Alliance use to meet at. He hadn't been here since his argument with Hermione, he took a deep breath putting that memory away, he need to focus.

He grabbed the handle and opened the door, the classroom was dark and empty. He cast lumos and walked slowly inside. He reached the far side of the classroom and saw a small puddle of dried up blood. ' _Can't imagine how worried the girls were when they saw us bleeding this much._ '

He heard a noise to his left, he showed his light to the other side of the room. He sighed in relief as he saw the girl he was looking for hiding behind a couple of chairs.

"Thank Merlin I found you Ginny, your brother was worried when he found out you ran off." Scarlet said walking over to her.

She screamed as he stepped closer and started to put more and more chairs between them. She looked like a frightened animal. Scarlet figured she must still be freaking out over whatever attacked her in the library.

He put his arms to the side and slowly moved closer. "I'm not going to hurt you Ginny, I just want to bring you back safely to our common room."

The girl frantically shook her head at him. "No, no, no, you've been following me, stay away!" She grabbed one of the chairs and threw it at him.

He stepped out of the way as it crash on the floor by his feet. He sighed in annoyance at how difficult this was being. "I know, but your brother was worried and asked me, Hermione and Harry, to keep an eye on you. I promise I'm not here to hurt you." He soothed trying to reach out to the girl.

" **I however wont make such a promise.** " A third voice said from behind him.

Ginny screamed as she and Scarlet saw the Heir standing in the doorway. He immediately ran towards Ginny standing in front of her with his wand aimed at the dark figure.

" **You and I remember what happened last time we fought, I suggest putting down your wand if you don't want me to break more of your body.** " The Heir threatened as it stepped close to them. It swished its wand behind it closing the door, Scarlet could only imagine how powerful the locking charm it placed on it were.

"What do you want with us?" Scarlet demanded, he moved himself and Ginny further into the room to create as much space as possible.

" **The girl is worthless to me, another blood traitor to kill."** The heir explained, it smiled at both of them baring its teeth. " **I told you I'd fix your idiotic devosion to mudbloods and blood traitors, I've come to fulfill my promise.** "

Scarlet felt his foot hit the back wall behind him, they'd run out of room to move. The Heir sensing his panic started to move quickly. He fired a spell at the Heir only for it deflect it into a wall. Before he could fire off another spell the Heir ran at great speed and grabbed a hold of his shirt lifting him high into the air. He grunted in discomfort, and tried to get out its hold.

"Run Ginny!" He yelled.

Ginny ran as quick as she could but the Heir used its other hand to grab a handful of her red hair, she screamed in pain as it pulled her back dropping her on the floor by its feet. It looked back at him. " **Yes, I'll have a lot to fix about you.** " It utter darkly.

 **Authors Note: As you can see were reaching the climax of the story, the Heirs plan is in motion and with 2 now 3 members of the Shadow Alliance either captured or petrified it's not looking good for Harry, Ron and Tracey. The identity of the Heir should be revealed next chapter, depending on how long it'll be. I may decided to cut it in two parts if it's long enough.**

 **Quick apology for taking a long time to post this chapter, my computer crashed a few weeks ago, and I ended up losing the entire chapter. It was hard to find the motivation to rewrite this chapter, but I felt as though I was able to improve certain scenes in this story. Hope you all enjoy and will see you at the next update!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling**

Within the Shadows Ch 12

Lucius Malfoy wasn't one for expression _positive_ emotions, but today was an exception. He had a dark smile on his face as we walked the walls of Hogwarts. After months of pressuring the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, he's finally convinced him to shut down the school. Thanks in large part to the damage caused by the diary he unleashed to the school.

He wasn't doing this just to cause chaos, no. He had a greater plan in mind. Ever since the fall of the dark lord he'd been under the watchful eye of the government, and who was behind all this but Albus Dumbledore. The old oaf had been a thorn in Lucious side for far too long, the hope was that shutting down Hogwarts would take away a large amount of the man's influence, then with his reputation disgraced by the public learning of the attacks on the students, he would be forced to relinquish the remaining titles and power he had. Leaving Fudge to be easily manipulated by him.

Of course, he was getting a head of himself, today Fudge had finally signed off on a squad of aurors to head to Hogwarts to begin the process of closing down the school.

He held no sympathy for the students, they were merely collateral damage, the muggle-borns weren't worth any more time or resources, and the blood traitors would scurry like the rodents they were, families like his would be able to enroll their children in schools in different countries. ' _Perhaps Durmstrang will toughen up Draco. He's gone rather soft over years, I blame Narcissa for that, codling him his entire life._ ' He sneered at the thought of what his child had become.

The boy had been sending him vague letters throughout the year, eluding that he was setting up something big and that he would be proud of him. He scoffed at the idea of the boy doing anything relevant, but he would humor the boy only to take great satisfaction in proving himself right.

It wasn't long before he reached a tiny hut right by the forest, he knew he was in the correct place as he saw five aurors standing by the front door.

"Auror Dawlish I presume?" He introduced himself.

"Yes, Lucius Malfoy a pleasure." Dawlish responded shaking the man's hand. With his recent donations to Fudge, it had made him a few friends in the various departments of the government.

"Is Minister Fudge already inside?" He asked.

Dawlish nodded. "He and Dumbledore are inside." The man gestured for him to go inside.

He nodded to the man and opened the front door, not bothering to knock. Inside were the people he expected to be here, Dumbledore, Fudge, and the half giant Hagrid.

"Already here Fudge? Good." He announced walking inside, not bothering to hide his disgust of the room as he looked around.

"What are you doing here? Get out of my house!" The half giant yelled at him.

He didn't listen to him as he walked further inside. "Believe me, I take absolutely no pleasure being inside your...you call this a house?" He said narrowing his eyes as he looked at the pathetic excuse of a room. It was very small, it reeked of some merlin awful smell he did not want to know of what.

"No, I simply called up the school and was told the headmaster was here." He continued speaking turning around and looking at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore looked back at him narrowing his eyes as he tried to figure out what he was up too, but alas even if he did know there was nothing the old man could do, the paperwork had already been set, it was a matter of informing him of the _bad news_.

"And what exactly is it, do you want with me?" He asked.

Lucius did his best to hide the smile of his face. "The other governors and I have decided it's time for you to step aside." He reached into his robes and pulled up a sealed parchment. "This is an order of suspension." He walked over to give it to Dumbledore. "You'll find all twelve signatures on it. I'm afraid we feel you've lost your touch. What with all these attacks there'll be no students left a Hogwarts, most importantly the muggle-borns. Those students would be an awful loss to the school." He turned back around facing the window to hide his smile as he spoke.

"You can't take professor Dumbledore away." Hagrid spoke up defending the headmaster. "Take him away the students won't stand a chance." He pointed a finger at him anger increasing as he continued speaking. "Mark my words there'll be killins next including your son!"

"You think so?" Lucius mused. "From what I've heard this Heir of Slytherin has quite the grudge against muggle-borns and those he presumes to be _blood traitors_. So I think my son will remain unharmed." Not bothering to hide how amusing he found this.

"Calm yourself Hagrid, if the governor's desire of my removal and the closing of the school, I will, of course, step aside. The safety of the students is far more important than my job." Dumbledore stepped in calming the situation. He proceeded to continue speaking while walking up to Lucious, not once taking his eyes off him. "However, you will find help will always be given in Hogwarts to those who ask for it." He finished staring off into the corner just over Lucious right shoulder.

Confused he looked over to see nothing of significance over his shoulder. He mentally scoffed believing the old fool was losing it.

"Admirable sentiments, shall we?" He asked brushing past him walking towards the door and opening. Dumbledore followed walking out of the hut, he nodded to Fudge and walked out.

He saw two Aurors walk inside carrying fairly large cuffs, as much as he wishes to personally wish to watch them haul the half-giant to Azkaban he had a meeting with his son.

Draco had sent him an owl with a letter wishing to discuss something of importance with him at Hogwarts, he soon found the room and saw the door slightly ajar. He opened not bothering to announce his presence, he was the head of his house he didn't ask his son for permission to enter.

First thing Lucious noticed was how big of a mess the room was, tables flipped upside down, broken chairs on the wall, and the wall itself cracked. He clicked his tongue at the poor choice of location his son chose, but he was used to disappointment from Draco. The second thing he noticed was that his son was nowhere to be seen. His eyes narrowed in anger that his son had the audacity to be late, he would make sure he instilled a very thorough punishment for this disrespect.

He continued walking inside the room, more curious on what happened here before he could get too far inside he felt his right foot hit a rather solid object. He caught himself before he fell over. "Draco couldn't bother to clean up after himself, he's useless without a house elf." He ranted before looking down at what had tripped him.

His eyes widened at what he saw, it wasn't something that tripped him, but who. There laid his son frozen on the floor staring back at him, petrified. He was in disbelief at what he was looking at. Lucius poked Draco with the bottom of his cane, unsure if that was actually a body, or maybe an idiotic joke, but sure enough, it was real.

He deduced that this must have happened recently as he was sure the school would have notified him immediately if his son was petrified. And as he swished his wand clearing the mess of broken furniture he was disappointed to see there were no other students in the same state as his son.

He frowned trying to figure out why his son as targeted, the fact he was the only one here meant the dark force he unleashed on this school went out of its way to target Draco, but why?

' _From what I've heard this heir of Slytherin has quite the grudge against muggle-borns and those he presumes to be blood traitors_.' His words earlier came back to him, he frowned at the idea his son was that soft to sympathize with mudbloods and traitors. Looking back at Draco petrified it was the only logical conclusion he could come up with. His fists curled at the thought of his son actually going against the most important thing he taught him. Lucius shouldn't have been surprised, all Draco did was disappoint him, and this was proof enough.

He scoffed as he stepped over and walked past his son and towards the door. Lucius didn't care what happened to his son if he was doomed to be forever petrified he'd make another child with his wife, but if he survived? Lucious smirked, he'd cross that very painful bridge when he got there.

XXX

Let it be known that Tracey Davis was not on board with this plan. Originally they'd gone to visit Hagrid to find out what he knew about the chamber of secrets, but before they could learn anything of importance, Minister Fudge and Dumbledore arrived accompanied by several Aurors. They had hidden underneath Harry's invisibility cloak and stayed silent as she watched Harry's and Ron's friend being arrested and taken away. Right before Hagrid was arrested by the Aurors he'd told them to _follow the spiders_. That, in turn, had led them to follow a herd of spiders traveling into the forbidden forest. It wasn't until the castle was out of view that the situation they were in sunk it. She bit her lip and looked around her as she heard a strange creature howling in the distance.

"Boys, maybe we should turn back? You know to wait until Scarlet gets back? Merlin knows what's in this forest." Tracey wanted to put on a brave face, but they were three second-year students walking through a forest filled with dangerous creatures.

The forest itself was frightening, the leaves were gone at the bottom leaving just the tree trunk, there was also a small fog by their feet. Everything about it just unnerved her.

"We have no choice, the longer we wait the longer Hagrid has to stay in Azkaban." Harry said over his shoulder. "Besides, we left him a note to follow the spiders, he should be able to catch up."

Tracey just nodded at that, she kept a tight grip on her wand. She knew he was right. Her mind flashed to the memory of Daphne petrified, her friend needed her and she couldn't let her down. She took a deep breath and powered forward walking step by step beside Harry. The Gryffindor boy gave her a small smile before looking forward.

From that point none of them said anything, they just stayed focus and followed the growing group of spiders all converging in a single direction. The amount of spiders got so large that she had to watch where she was walking, best avoid stepping on any of them.

Harry raised the lamp he was carrying and they were able to see a small hole where all the spiders were converging towards.

"Guys I don't like this." She heard Ron whimpered behind her, she looked behind her to see the redhead shaking in fear as they walked closer. She'd only just learned that he heard a big fear of spiders.

She walked back a bit an offered her hand to him. He looked down at the hand and back to her, confusion written on his face.

"Come on take my hand, I'm scared too." She comforted.

He seemed unsure for a bit but slowly reached up and grabbed her hand tightly. She smiled as he accepted her hand, she knew boys could be a little immature about physical contact, but right now they all needed to support one another, they were all they had left of their group.

The three of them soon reached the hole in the ground, it was fairly dark but they could see some light up ahead. Harry was the first to walk in bending over slightly to not bump his head. Ron and she took a big sigh, she walked in first and him following behind her.

Despite not having as big of fear as Ron had of spiders, the sheer amount and the small space she was trapped in freaked her out. ' _Please don't fall on me, please don't fall on me._ '

It wasn't long before they reached the end of the hole. The first thing she noticed was that they could still see the night sky, but they were in a big crater in the ground extending for awhile, it was so deep that some of the bigger tree's roots were right above them. They soon reached the other end of the crater where all the spiders were going but the path was blocked off by giants roots covered in webbing.

A crunching sound up ahead startle them, Tracey couldn't stop the squeak from escaping from her lips, and she saw Ron jump back a bit at the sound.

"Who is it?" A rough voice asked suddenly. This time she jumped a little just like Ron, who looked as if he was ready to run.

"Don't panic." She heard Harry whisper to both of them, how that boy wasn't scared was beyond her. Maybe Daphne was right about Gryffindor courage.

"Hagrid? Is that you?" She heard the voice continue to speak, it sounded very rough but at the same time very old.

"Were friends of Hagrid." Harry called out, answering the voice.

It was then she saw a long, dark, harry pole rise above the ground, then another, then another, then she realized it wasn't a pole as a body of a giant spider appeared connected to all of them. It took everything in Tracey to not scream on the spot as the terrifying acromantula walked over to them.

"Are, ar-, you're Aragog aren't' you?" Harry was the first one to speak. Tracey was surprised, certainly, this wasn't the same creature Hagrid was hiding in Hogwarts all those years ago?

She noticed the creature looking at them with all eight of its eyes, it unnerved her the way it stared at them.

"Yes. Hagrid has never sent students in our hollow before." It or Aragog answered back, it didn't move any further staying around twenty feet in front of them.

"He's in trouble, up at the school there have been attacks. They think it's Hagrid, they think he opened the Chamber of Secrets, like before." Harry answered quickly.

"That's a lie!" Aragog shouted. "Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets."

"Then you aren't the one that's been petrifying students." Tracey spoke up behind Harry.

It shook its head at her statement. "No, a monster did that, one that was born in the castle. I came to Hagrid from a distant land, in the pocket of a traveler."

Ron whimpered beside them, she gave him a soft smile while Harry shushed him. She needed him to stay strong they were almost done.

"But if you're not the monster, then what killed that girl fifty years when the chamber was opened?" Harry asked.

"We do not speak of it! It is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others." Aragod informed them.

Tracey noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, she looked to the side and saw spiders, big spiders off in the distance, they seemed to be staring at them, looking up she saw more above them crawling all over the roots. What scared here was that they were the size of dogs! She looked back to her friends and she saw Ron whimpering at the same thing she discovered.

"If you were there fifty years then you must've seen it." Harry continued to ask the spider.

Again Aragog shook his head at them. "I never saw any part of the castle, but the box in which Hagrid kept me in. The girl was discovered in a bathroom when I was accused Hagrid brought me here."

"Harry!' Ron cried too, grabbing his arm and shaking it to get the boys attention. Harry looked annoyed that he was interrupted but he looked up when Ron shakingly pointed his finger in the air, finally seeing what they both have been watching. Only this time more and more spiders had appeared and were descending down close to them.

She grabbed Harry's shoulder. "We need to go now!" She whispered harshly. He quickly nodded and looked back to Aragog.

"Well, thank you. We'll just go." Harry said taking a couple steps back, with Ron and her nodding eagerly.

"Go?" Aragog seemed to muse. "I think not!" It roared changing its tone at them. "My sons and daughter do not harm Hagrid on my command, but I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst." They looked behind them and saw hundreds of spiders circling around them, all varying in sizes and all with a hungry look focused on them. "Goodbye friend of Hagrid."

"Pull out your wands!" Harry ordered, both of them quickly grabbed them their wands and pointed it at the spiders.

One charged in Harry's direction, he reared back the lantern in his hand and swung it at the spider knocking it away, but two more took its place.

Tracey but her lip, they were outnumbered, and she was positive none of them knew anything about acromantulas. She cursed their luck as the only people in her alliance that could possibly know anything about them weren't here.

She saw a few run in her direction, she only knew one spell that could cover a wide range. "Glacious!" She shouted shooting a small beam of ice in front of her. The spell worked as the spiders in front of her were either frozen or blown away, but her joy was short lived as she found the spell wasn't powerful enough to affect the bigger ones. Before she could react one jumped at her knocking her down. She screamed as its face was directly in front of her its pincers inching closer and closer to her face. She put her hands on it to push it back but it was too heavy.

The spider was soon knocked off her screaming in pain as she saw some of its legs were severed off, it scurried away leaving her time to pick up her wand. She noticed a hand outstretched in front of her and saw it was Rons, he saved her!

"Thanks Ron." She said happily taking his hand and standing up.

"What are friends for?" He smiled at her. If it wasn't for their current situation she would overjoyed to hear to admit he thought of her as a friend.

"Arania Exumai!' Tracey saw Harry holding his own as the spell hit the spider sending it back a few feet.

They regrouped back to back, their wands trained on the growing number of spiders.

"What are we going to do Harry?" Ron nervously asked.

"I don't know, my spell isn't powerful enough for all of them." Harry answered back, none of them took their eyes off the spiders as the continued to stalk over to them.

Just before she cast a spell she saw a wall of fire erupt in front of her, she bumped into the boys stepping back, startled by the fire. The wall of fire soon moved and encircled all three of them, almost as if it was protecting them. She heard the spiders shrieking in pain as some of them were in its path.

"I don't suppose any of you did that?" Tracey asked hopefully, but both boys shook their heads.

"I thought it was you." They said simultaneously, all three of them were confused about who conjured the fire.

"That would be me love." A voice said above them. They all jumped as a figure landed crouched beside them, she thought it was a spider at first, but she quickly realized that spiders don't have pink hair!

The pink figure stood up and Tracey quickly realized who it was. "Tonks!" She shouted in glee.

She winked back at her. "Wotcher everyone, hope you don't mind letting an official Auror in training handle this."

"Go right ahead." Harry told her happily.

She smiled at his answer and turned around facing the spiders circling her ring of fire. "Don't try this at home." She said before winking at them. She raised her hand forward and the stream of fire erupted from the wall incinerating all the spiders in front of it. She quickly moved her wand in a circular pattern causing the fire to move about, burning everything that came in its contact.

Tracey was in awe as she watched Tonks control the fire with ease. It made sense why Scarlet was so gifted with spells, he had an amazing teacher.

"Stop!" Aragog shouted, causing Tonks to stop manipulating the flames. "You've killed so many of my children, and burning our home, leave us now!"

Tonks smirked at the giant acromantula. "Come on kids, I think we taught this big bad spider not to eat Hogwarts students." She motioned for them to walk away, not needing to be told twice the three of them ran out with Tonks close behind.

They ran for a few minutes and until Tonks was satisfied they put a bit of distance from the den of spiders.

"Looks like they learned their lesson, they aren't following us." Tonks said looking behind them.

Tracey sighed in relief and sat down on a nearby log trying to catch her breath. Looking up she could see both boys panting very hard, just as exhausted.

"Bloody hell, that was incredible!" Ron exclaimed, causing Tonks to chuckle.

"What he means is thank you for saving us." Harry joined in.

"No worries, I'm just glad I got here when I could." Tonks said. "Also I believe I know all of you but haven't been formally introduced." She straightened her shoulders and stood high up. "Auror Tonks, at your service." Tracey couldn't help but snort, she was well aware of her sense of humor.

"How did you find us Tonks? Hard to believe you stumbled upon us randomly." Harry asked Tracey was just as curious as well.

"We'll when you leave a nice note for me to find saying _follow the spiders_ , someone is bound to follow." She shrugged her shoulders.

The three of them just looked at one another, they were in such a rush they didn't realize the idiocy of the note, that anyone could find it.

"Not our best plan but we needed to let Scarlet know where we were so he could follow." Ron explained.

"Well you're lucky I forgot my lucky scarf at the hut, wouldn't have doubled back and seen the parchment. Lucky I decided to go with my gut and follow the spiders." She commented sitting down beside Tracey. "Speaking of Scarlet where is my little buddy? He told me about your super secret, cool alliance, figured he'd be with you guys?"

"He went to look for my sister, she disappeared after the attack in the library, Scarlet offered to stay behind and search for while we did our own investigation. Though he said it wouldn't take long." Ron explained to Tonks leaning against one of the trees.

Tonks hummed in thought at what she was told. "Come on, we better get back to the castle, you can explain to me what's been happening on the walk back." She stood and motioned for all of them start walking.

The walk back to Hogwarts gave them plenty of time to share with Tonks what happened since they formed the Shadow Alliance. They weren't sure how much Scarlet had already explained to her so the felt best to just say everything they knew. From what they learned about Malfoy and the secret meeting during the holidays, the flashback Harry experienced from the freaky diary, the boys fight with the heir, and finally Hermione and Daphne being found petrified.

To Tonks credit it appeared to Tracey that the older woman wasn't being overwhelmed with all this information, she seemed to pick it up rather quickly. Whether because she already knew most of it from Scarlet already, or her training as an auror, Tracey was really impressed and glad to have her on their side.

They seen reached the castle grounds they made soon made their way up the hill towards the entrance Right before the walked inside she pulled them aside and whispered to them. "Here's the plan we go inside and search for Scarlet, if anyone approaches I'll just say I'm escorting you to your respective common rooms, just let me do the talking, I'm pretty good at talking my way out of trouble." She winked at them.

"Scarlet told Daphne and I it's your mouth that gets you in trouble in the first place." Tracey quipped.

Tonks like the mature adult witch she was stuck her tongue out. "Yeah, we'll I'm taller than him!" She jokingly said in anger. Harry and Ron looked a bit apprehensive, they just weren't used to the aurors personality.

As they walked inside she heard Ron ask Harry if Tonks was an actual Auror, only to be elbowed in the sides by Harry.

"All teachers and aurors to the second-floor corridor immediately!" They heard McGonagall's voice echoing throughout the hallways.

"What do you think that's about?" Ron asked nervously.

"Not sure, let's find out." Tonks said before running towards the second floor.

They reached the corridor within minutes they could already see every teacher and auror assigned here already arrived. They could frantic murmuring going on as they seemed to be looking at something on the wall in front of them. They stayed behind the wall, close enough to listen.

"As you can see the Heir of Slytherin has left another message." McGonagall showed everyone. "Our worst fear has been realized, a student has been taken by the monster, into the chamber itself." She told them sadly.

"All the more reason this school will be shut down, in a few hours minister Fudge will sign the paperwork officially closing down this school for good." One of the Aurors said, the others nodding in agreement.

"I'll have every Auror stationed at the entrances to the common rooms and the infirmary. Where is your Defence against the Dark Arts professor?" A tall dark man dressed in purple robes asked looking around.. "His services will be in great need."

"I'm afraid Gilderoy Lockhart was called away soon after the attack Shakelbolt." McGonagall informed them.

"Thats unfortunate let's go." The man named Shacklebolt and the other Aurors left leaving the faculty alone.

"Who is it the monsters taken Minerva?" They heard Madam Pomfrey ask.

McGonagall had a sad look on her face as she told her the two worst names they could possibly hear. "Ginny Weasley and Scarlet Shade."

' _No!_ ' Tracey silently screamed, she'd just lost her best friend, she couldn't lose Scarlet too. She walked back and closed her eyes trying very hard to not break down, but it wasn't fair. Everyone she cared about was being ripped away from her. She couldn't imagine how everyone else was feeling.

The teachers soon left and they could finally see what was written on the wall. "Their skeletons will lie in the chamber forever."

XXX

Tonks mind was a whirlwind of emotions, one moment she was sad, then the next upset. Her mind kept playing what ifs. What if she'd gotten to Hogwarts quicker? What if she checked up on Scarlet the moment she got here?

She punched the wall in frustration. She'd promise to always look out for him, and a year later she broke it miserably. Now her Scarlet was in the clutches of this heir and its beast and she had no idea where to look. She'd try to remember every inch of Hogwarts during her time as a student and not once did anything stand out as a possible entrance into the chamber.

She looked over to see what the three second years were doing, none of them had said a word once they learned who was taken and what was written on the wall. Tonks couldn't blame them, After losing two of their friends earlier today and now this, it was a lot to handle for a twelve-year-old.

As much as it pained her to act like this wasn't bothering her she needed to step up. Scarlet was in trouble and from what she could tell the three of them were following his lead, as an Auror they'd look at her for answers to their impossible questions. This was her job and she needed to do it, for Scarlet's sake.

She reached up and clutched the necklace he'd given her last christmas. ' _I'll save you Scarlet, if it's the last thing I do, I swear to you on my magic._ '

Harry was the first one to notice her walking over to them. "Tonks I'm so sorry." He apologized.

She just raised her hand for him to stop. "We'll find him and save him I promise all of you, along with your sister Ron." She nodded to him.

That seemed to brighten them up somewhat, but there was still a lot of work to be done.

"First things first, we can't help them if we don't know where the entrance to the chamber is, now I've been trying to remember but I haven't come up with anything." Tonks explained, hoping one of them might have something.

"We haven't seen anything odd, not even in the third-floor corridor." Ron replied shrugging his shoulders

"What about you Tracey? This is the Heir of Slytherin, maybe the entrance is in your common room?" She asked.

Tracey just shook her head. "Daphne and I thought of that but we covered every inch of it and didn't find anything remotely suspicious."

Tonks tisked in annoyance, they were going around in circles. She then remembered her Auror training, how Mad Eye Moody told her to go about solving every case.

"Check all your facts." She said to herself, remembering one of the first things he taught her. "Let's go over everything we know so far, the answer has to be in something we know."

"We'll we know the chamber was opened fifty years ago." Harry started off.

"A muggle-born student died." Ron added.

"Her body was discovered in a bathroom." Tracey joined in.

She remembered the next step was to thoroughly check the crime scene for any clues. "Maybe if we search the bathroom we might be able to find something." Tonks suggested, she wasn't certain if it would be helpful but right now it was the only lead they had.

"You think we could find a clue from fifty years ago, certainly the bathroom would've been searched thoroughly." Harry pointed out.

"Yes, but not if they didn't know what they were looking for, remember the chamber is considered a myth. No one would be looking for anything retaining to it." She hypothesized, it was a stretch but there was some logic. "The only problem is we don't know which bathroom it was, there are dozens of them throughout the castle." Tonks sighed in frustration, every time they made progress they stumbled upon a new issue.

"Actually I may know which one." Tracey said surprising Tonks.

"How?" She asked.

Tracey held up two fingers. "Two words, Moaning Myrtle."

"You're a genius Davis!" She praised.

She noticed both boys seemed confused about what they were talking about. "Moaning Myrtle is a ghost that's been hauntinggirl'sgirls lavatory on the second floor for years, even during my time at Hogwarts." Tonks explained to them.

"So you think this _Moaning Myrtle_ might know something?" Ron asked.

"Better yet, we think she might be the student that died in a bathroom all those years ago, she might know where the entrance to the chamber is!" Tracey joined in enthusiastically.

"Then let's go!" Ron exclaimed running off, quickly followed by the rest of them.

It didn't take them long to reach the bathroom, they were already on the same floor. Tonks was the first to approach the door, wand ready. She opened the door slowly and peeked inside, it was empty. She slowly walked inside, once she was convinced there was no one else she signaled for the others to walk into the room.

"Whos there?" She heard a feminine voice ask.

Looking up she a ghost looking down upon her, she was young, a student based on her appearance. It was Moaning Myrtle.

"Tonks? So good to see you again, have you come for me to scare you again?" Tonks stiffened as she remembered the embarrassing encounter with Myrtle.

"What's she talking about?" Harry asked behind her.

"Its nothing, Myrtle likes to scare anyone who comes in here." She informed.

"I'll say, it was so much fun scaring you two years ago." She floated down closer to them. "You should've seen her face, she was so frightened Tonks ran out of the staal so fast she left her knickers behind!" Tonks blushed at the memory of her first encounter with Myrtle, not one of her proudest moments.

They were getting off track and they didn't have much time left. "Myrtle that's not why we came here." She spoke up.

The ghost tilted her head at her in curiosity. "Oh? Then why did you come her?"

"To ask you how you died." She said carefully. Tonks just hoped after fifty years her death wasn't a sensitive topic to the ghost anymore.

"Oh, it was dreadful." Myrtle started to explain, she pointed to a staal a few feet from them. "It happened right here, in this very cubicle. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in.

"Who was it Myrtle?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. I was distraught!" Myrtle yelled, yup her death was still a sensitive topic.

Luckily she continued talking. "But they said something funny, a kind of made-up language, and I realized it was a boy speaking, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away and...I died." She finished.

That didn't make any sense to Tonks, no one could die in an instant, except by the killing curse, but even then the victim would see a bright green flash.

"Just like that? How?" Tracey asked.

"I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. Over there by that sink." She motioned her towards a certain sink.

Tonks frowned as she stepped towards the sink, she looked it over but didn't see anything special. She fiddled with the handle, thinking maybe turning a number of times were the key but no luck. She was about to give up when she noticed something on the side of the handle. At first glance it was nothing, but when she looked closer she saw a snake engraved on it. Her eyes widen at the image. ' _This can't be a coincidence._ '

"I think this is it everyone." She announced stepping back. "I think this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."

"In a bathroom?" Ron said doubtfully at the idea.

"Wizards and witches didn't use bathrooms when Hogwarts was first made, they probably built it over the chamber." Tonks explained.

"One way to find out, Harry say something." Ron nudged Harry.

"Why Harry?" Tonks asked.

"Harry's a parselmouth, that's probably the language Myrtle heard that night." Ron explained.

Tonks looked at the boy in question and he nodded at her confirming his friend's words. "Well, Harry it's up to you now." She said taking a step over to give Harry space.

The boy seemed nervous being placed on the spot, but he took a step forward he took a deep and spoke something that sent chills down her spine. It didn't sound like he was saying anything, merly hissing loudly, but then the structure started to come apart. Everyone took a step back as it stretched into several pieces, soon all that was left was a giant pipe leading straight down.

She stepped forward careful of her robes, now would be the worst time for her infamous trip. As she looked down the pipe the first thing to she noticed was the horrid smell coming from it, she brought her sleeve up to cover her nose. The second thing was that it was pitch black.

' _This is it, I've found you Scarlet._ ' She was close now, she could feel it.

"Thank you for your help, but now I can take it from here." She told everyone, they looked at her in confusion, she realized they thought they would be going into the chamber with her.

"You can't go alone Tonks it's dangerous" Tracey said nervously.

"I can take care of myself Tracey." She said trying to reassure the young girl.

"Scarlet thought the same thing too, look what happened." She responded. Tonks narrowed her eyes, it was a low blow to bring his name up.

"It's too dangerous, there's a maniac down there with his pet. I can't fight them and protect you at the same time!" She scolded them, hoping they would see reason.

"We can take care of ourselves." Ron spoke up.

"You just told me you were all knock out when the Heir attack all you." Tonks pointed out, that causes the redhead to deflate.

"Listen I'm an Auror, I've been training to do this, You're all second years, even if it was Scarlet asking I don't trust him to handle himself, and neither could you." She reasoned.

"What if there's another locked door, you'll need me to open it for you." As much as she hated it she had to admit Potters words were true, she wouldn't get far if there was another door.

"Alright you can come, but you two still had to wait out here." She gave in.

"That thing has my sister! I can't stand here and do nothing!" Ron complained.

"We can help Tonks." Tracey joined in beside the redhead.

She admired their spirit, but as irresponsible as she was during Hogwarts, this was a serious matter, and she wouldn't forgive herself if someone got hurt on her watch. "I appreciate you wanting to help but you don't understand the severity of the situation. I'm going against a dark wizard and its dark creature, I don't even know if I can take on both." She admitted.

"So that's why I need you two to stay here." Tonks told them firmly. They both looked liked they wanted to argue her but they decided to stand down. She smiled at that. "Thank you."

She walked over to the hole and back over to Harry. "Are you sure, you can still stay here?" She asked the boy one more time.

He looked up at her with a and nodded firmly. "I can't, my friends need me." He told her.

She took a deep breath before looking back at him. "We'll if were going to run into danger, might as well have fun with." Harry gave her an odd look before she ran over and jumped into the hole. "Cannon Ball!" She screamed playfully jumping into the hole.

After about a few seconds of free falling she started to regret her idea, luckily soon the tunnel curved and she started to slide down. ' _Merlin, how long is this damn thing?_ ' She soon saw a light signaling she was close to the bottom, she fumbled through her pocket pulling out her wand. "Arresto Momentum!" The spell worked as she felt herself slow down and come to a comfortable stop at the bottom of the slide.

The first thing she registered was a loud crunch underneath her foot, she looked down and her faced paled. The entire floor of the room was covered in bones. "Bloody hell, what are we up against?" She muttered underneath her breath.

Tonks didn't have much longer to think about as she heard the sound of Harry sliding down, she aimed her wand at the bottom just as Harry was about to land. "Arresto Momentum!" She cast as Harry slowed to a near stop at the bottom. The boy was able to stick the landing much easier.

"Thanks." He said looking at all the bones.

"No worries, now remember to stay right behind me and have your wand ready." She ordered as she started to slowly walk out towards a tunnel, her wand aimed in front of her ready to attack. She heard Harry walking right behind as they exited the room.

"What is that?" She asked they walking into the next room, there was something large, at first glance it looked another piece of stone.

"It's a snakeskin." Harry told her as he touched part of it. She looked closer and felt the material it definitely felt like snakeskin.

"But that can't be right, it would have to be sixty feet long, snakes don't gr-" She stopped herself as a horrible thought came to her.

Harry noticed her sudden pause and gave her a curious look. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Unless it's a Basilisk." She told him. Suddenly everything was making sense, Basilisk had the ability to kill anyone who looks at it in the eye, the same yellow eyes that Myrtle looked at before she died. It also had the power petrify anyone instead, but only if the giant snake was commanded too.

"What's a Basilisk?" Harry asked.

"A giant snake, this is what's been perifying students." Tonks told him, she kept walking forward trying to get a better idea of how large this thing was.

"How could a snake this large go through the school without anyone seeing it?" Harry asked.

Tonks looked around and saw multiple tunnels leading in different directions. "The pipes!" She figured out. "The pipes are all over Hogwarts, that's how the Basilisk has been able to travel throughout the school without anyone seeing it."

She looked back and saw Harry looking down at the skin, deep in thought. "Knut for your thought?"

He looked back at her with a troubled look. "It's just, throughout the year I started to hear this voice speaking, the first time it happened it lead me to George on Halloween night. Then I heard it right before the Heir appeared in front of me, Ron and Hermione. I was the only one that could hear." That's when Harry's eyes widened "What if it was the snake speaking to me in parseltongue?"

"It's too big of a coincidence," Tonks replied, she looked further up ahead and saw a strange mechanism on the wall that was covered in snakes. "Come on I think I see a door up ahead."

Halfway through she a flicker of movement at the corner of her eye, instincts taking over she ran over to Harry before the boy could say something she tackled him to the ground. Right as a green spell sailed over their heads and impact the wall. Tonks got up quickly and aimed her wand at the attacker.

"That's the Heir!" Harry told standing behind her.

Tonks had to admit the figure fit the title, everything about this person screamed _I'm evil_.

"I'm official auror Tonks, You're under arrest, drop the wand now!" She ordered.

The Heir tiled its head at her in amusement. " **So Dumbledore finally brought in help. I figured he'd finally admit that when all his students were gone.** " The Heir laughed.

Tonks was starting to get frustrated, the person wasn't taking her seriously! "I said drop. Your. Wand!" She barked out stepping closer to it,

The Heir had the nerve to smile at her. " **Auror was it? From what I believe I think your actual title is Auror-In-Training?** " It drawled.

Tonks lowered her wand slightly, surprised that the Heir knew that about her. ' _How did it know that?_ '

" **As I'm sure Harry and his pathetic alliance told you, nothing happens in this castle that I don't know about.** " It gloated stepping closer to them.

She needed to stay focus, she knew this was the heirs tactic to throw her off.

"Where are my friend!" Harry shouted behind her, a quick glance and she haw he had his out as well.

" **Quiet Harry the adults are talking.** " The Heir mocked, not taking his eyes off her.

"I believe he asked where his friends are!" She snarled.

" **I wouldn't worry about those two for long, not after I kill you!** " The heir shot out his wand from underneath his robes and pointed at them.

Tonks pulled Harry down and ducked as the curse sailed over their head and impacted the wall behind them. "Hide!" She shouted as she dodged another curse.

She scolded herself as she was always taught to be vigilant. As she dodged another curse the reality of her situation set in, they were fighting in a very cramped room, not many places for cover and she had to keep in mind the type of spell she used, anything remotely powerful and she risked the tunnel caving in. As she deflected another curse, she knew the Heir had no problems using any spell it liked.

"You're going to collapse this tunnel, are you bloody insane!" She shouted over the spell fire.

The Heirs only response was sending the killing curse in her direction. She widened at that as she'd never seen the spell being used let alone at her. She knew it was impossible to block that spell with magic so she levitated a large boulder from the side of her and placed it in front of her. The boulder shattered and she had to use her arms to shield her face.

Tonks knew she couldn't be defensive anymore, and as she saw Harry crouched in a small hole in the wall, she couldn't hold back.

"Fumos!" Dark grey smoke erupted from her wand separating the two of them. Back at the academy, Mad-Eye-Moody had taught her to not rely solely on her sight in combat but all her sense. By the time the Heir had disappeared the smoke, she was already in position.

"Carpe Retractum!" A rope erupted from her wand and ensured the Heir, catching him off guard. She pulled the Heir sending it in her direction, she raised her foot and connected with its jaw. She thanked Merlin for introducing her to Mad-Eye as it was his idea to incorporate muggle fighting.

Pressing on she punched the Heir in the face, another in the gut, and she kept on the attack. Most wizards were used to fighting at a distance, close combat was foreign to them, and she used that to her davantage. She sent a roundhouse kick at its head forcing it on its knees.

"Expelliarmus!" She finished knocking the wand out its hand and onto hers and knocking the Heir back into the wall and falling flat on the ground, out cold.

She held her breath for a moment waiting for her opponent to get back up, but it never did. She fell to her knees trying to catch her breath, she'd never fought that hard before, the quick succession from defensive to offensive spells and the physical attacks were catching up on her.

"That was brilliant." She heard from Harry as he ran over to her side, a look of concern appeared on his face. "Are you okay?"

She nodded at him. "Yeah, it just took a lot out of me." She admitted.

"You were amazing when we last fought we could barely touch it, and there were three of us!' Harry said astonished at her.

Tonks chuckled at his statement. "Trust me that was nothing, in fact, my mentor cou-"

" **CRUCIO!** " Tonks screamed in pain as she felt hot knives pressing in every inch of her skin. She'd never felt this type of pain, even when she took a bone breaking curse in the arm. This was the reason why that particular spell was illegal. She heard screaming beside her and knew Harry was in the same pain. She could barely make out the Heir standing right infront of her, a sneer on its face as blood was trickling down its face. " **You were a worthy distraction, but this game is over.** "

Tonks could feel tears streaming down her face as the pain intensified, she soon fell to the ground writhing in pain. She could hear the Heir laughing at their pain. " **Here I thought you were going to be a challenge** _ **Auror**_ **Tonks.** " It mocked, amusement in its voice. " **But just another failure created by this world. I'll be sure to give Scarlet your regards.** "

She gritted her death as the Heir uttered his name. The Heir seemed to pick up on her reaction.

" **Touch a nerve? Don't worry about Scarlet, after I kill you I'll take good care of him, he'll be leading my followers into my new world order.** " It said leaning closer to her.

Tonks curled her fist at that comment, the thought of the Heir hurting one of the most important people in her life filled her with anger. Scarlet had been through enough pain in his life and she would be damned if she let him go through any more. She reached over and grabbed her wand.

The Heir noticed her grab her wand, it gritted its teeth and put more power into the spell.

No matter how much pain she was in she knew she had to keep going. She had a promise to keep. ' _I won't let you down Scarlet._ ' She lifted her arm up holding her wand and pointed it at the heir.

" **This is impossible, a pathetic half-blood like you shouldn't be able to resist me!** '" It roared.

If Tonks wasn't in great pain she'd actually laugh at that comment. "You wouldn't be the first. Bombarda!" An explosion erupted in front of both of them. Tonks was lifted off her feet and sailed across the tunnel. She grunted in pain as her back hit the wall, sliding down.

Despite being in the middle of an explosion she actually felt great relief, the cruciatus curse was the most painful spell known to witch and wizards. She hissed in pain as she tried to move her body, the spell might've been over but for the body's sense of touch was still sensitive.

She gritted her teeth as she slowly stood up, she looked up and saw the Heir on the other side its entire body embedded into the wall, with most of its robes shredded. She took a few steps forward and noticed Harry starting to get up.

"Easy there Harry, you just went through the most painful experience you'll ever feel." She told him, walking over.

Harry just nodded as he took deep breaths, still reeling from the pain. "Thanks, Tonks, if it wasn't for you I don't know what would happen."

Tonks gave him a small smile. "All in the day of an Auror."

"Is he?" Harry asked as he looks over at the Heir.

Tonks followed his gaze and noticed the Heir hadn't moved. "I don't know, but let's find out who this bastard is." She growled as she walked over to it, she grabbed its torso and ripped it off the wall dropping it onto the ground.

She reached one hand over to its hood, gripping it tightly. Looking over at Harry she saw him looking at it just as intently. She swiftly yanked the hood down and gasped at what she saw. She heard Harry was just as surprised as they saw the person behind the hood was Gilderoy Lockhart!

Harry was the first one to find his voice. "That's impossible, it couldn't have been Lockhart, the man haw no prowess when it comes to spells!" Harry walked over to get a better look.

Tonks first thought was that this might be an imposter, using a potion to alter their appearance, but she didn't find anything but wands on it. "I'm afraid it's him Harry." She admitted it didn't make any sense to her, Lockhart was an adventurer, a best selling novelist, he wasn't a blood supremist.

"Quirrel was the one behind the events last year, I guess it isn't hard to believe another DADA professor was behind this." Harry voiced out loud.

Tonks shook her head. "It doesn't make sense, Lockhart isn't a parselmouth, he's never been a support for purebloods, nor has voiced displeasure for muggle-borns." She questioned in disbelief.

"He's wearing the robes, you saw the way he spoke, and the spells he used, he's the Heir of Slytherin." Harry replied.

Tonks had to admit Harry had a point, from what she heard and experienced this was the person who was petrifying students for the past year, but she still had a lot of questions. They would have to wait as Scarlet and Ginny were still down her and needed them.

"Come on Harry." She said standing up. "We need to find our friends before the beast comes."

They walked past the shedded skin of the basilisk and reached the other side of the tunnel. In front of them was a round door metal door, with numerous metal snakes on it.

Once again Harry's parseltongue came in handy as each of the snakes that were on the door detached from the outer rim of the door as if each one was unlocking the door. Once the final snake detached the door swung open. Both Tonks and Harry had their wands out, the Heir might've been dealt with but the basilisk was still roaming about.

Tonks jaw dropped when she got her first glimpse of the chamber. She wasn't sure what she was expecting the Chamber of Secrets to look like, but this would've topped anything she imagines. A single path lay in front of them, on the sides along the path were large statues crafted to shape a snakes head, and at the end of the path was the most disturbing structure in her, a giant stone head.

Tonks was the first to step inside she saw a ladder leading down, she climbed down quickly and continued further with harry right behind her. She could feel her heart beating faster and faster as they ventured further inside, not knowing when they could be attacked. What didn't help was that the path they were on was also surrounded by large bodies of water, she wasn't sure if the Basilisk could swim but she had to be ready if it erupted from the water.

It wasn't until they here half way did she notice something by the large head. She squinted a bit to get a better look, she recognized it as bodies! They were both lying down and unmoving, Tonks' heart stopped at the thought that they were Scarlet and Ginny. Her sense of safety went out the window as she ran forward, the closer she got the closer she recognized that it was, in fact, Scarlet and Ginny.

She moved her feet double time, and soon reached them. She crouched down beside Scarlet, she pressed her finger against his neck to check his pulse, she sighed in relief as she felt his pulse. "Thank Merlin I found you Scarlet." She smiled down at the boy, she checked to see if he had any injuries but was glad to see he was unharmed. She felt a tear escape her as her Scarlet was safe and sound.

She got up and walked over to check on Ginny. She saw Harry right beside her trying to wake her up. "Tonks something wrong with her!" He called to her, panic evident in his tone. She ran over and kneeled beside him, the first thing she noticed was that the girl was very pale. Placing a finger on her wrist she tried to find her pulse, while it was there it was fairly weak. She checked to see if the girl had any injuries under her robes but she wasn't harmed. Tonks frowned as she tried to figure out why Ginny seemed in much worse shape.

"What's wrong with her Tonks?" Harry asked.

She looked back at him and shook her sadly. "I don't know why she's like this Harry. Her pulse is weak and I can't find any physical injuries that might be the cause of it."

"Maybe the Heir cast some curse on her." Harry guessed.

"Worth a try to check out." Tonks replied, she grabbed her wand out of its holster and pointed it at the girl, but before she could cast the spell she felt the wand knocked out of her grip. Startled she turned around, only for her heart to stop.

She the saw the wand sail through the air and land in Scarlet's empty hand, the other hand had his wand pointed straight at her.

 **Authors Notes: Did not see that coming, did you? Since planning this story I always planned on Lockhart being the one wearing the hood. Now whether he's actually the one pulling the strings this entire year we'll found out next chapter. All will be explained as we'll finally find out what's been going on behind the scenes, I've left subtle clues through year 2 to give you an idea hopefully you may have picked up on one or two. I'll have the next chapter posted soon, till then thanks for reading!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling**

 **WARNING: This chapter is over 14,000 words long, might need to take a break in the middle of it.**

Within the Shadows Ch 13

Daphne gasped as she felt something wrapped around her body, the last memory of the basilisk finding them caused her to panic and she was struggling to find her breath, she was about to try and push it off of her when she heard crying. She took a moment to realize she wasn't in the library, but the infirmary? ' _What am I doing here? What happened?_ '

It was then she looked down and saw it wasn't the basilisk that was wrapped around her, but a little girl. Daphne's eyes widened as she recognized her sister. A soft smile came on her face as she wrapped her arms around her little sister and soothed sweet words to her. "It's okay Tori, I'm alright."

Astoria was still crying, but she could hear her tears quiet down a bit from her words, and she stopped trembling. Daphne gently pushed the girl slightly off her to look at her face, she could see Astorias face was bright red, and with tears sliding down her face. Her heart broke at what her sister had been going through.

"I-I thought I'd never see you again, th-that you'd be petrified forever." She said quietly, her lower lip trembling.

Daphne smiled at her sister, she moved her hand and cupped her sister's cheek, and smiled softly at her. "It's okay Tori, I'm fine, I promise not to leave you again."

That brought the biggest smile Daphne's ever seen on her sisters face, as she nodded eagerly at her words.

She looked around and for the first time realized how much commotion was going on in the infirmary. Every bed was filled and had about two or three people around it. As if there weren't enough people she saw a few professors racing back and forth with something in their hands, along with what she presumed were Aurors?

"Tori, what's going on? How long was I petrified?" She asked looking back at her sister.

Astoria looked back at everyone else in the room and she saw a frown forming on her face. "You and a lot of students were found petrified in the library a few hours ago. I was asleep in my room because of a headache, I didn't know what happened to you until a few hours ago." She could see her sister start to break down, so she quickly rubbed her sister's shoulders to remind her she was okay. "They're shutting down the school, a squad of Aurors was brought in, and tomorrow morning we'll be going back home." She finished explaining.

Daphne was about to respond before she felt the room start shaking, she yelped in surprise and grabbed her bed for support, she felt her sister grabbed on to her as well as the shaking continued. Soon the shaking ceased and both sisters let go of one another.

"And that's been happening as well, though it only started a twenty minutes ago the shaking has been happening a few times already." Tori explained.

Daphne frowned at that, earthquakes never happened at Hogwarts, so the fact that not only one but multiple ones didn't make sense, something was wrong. She started looking around, she knew Hermione was probably one of the victims and she wanted to make sure she wasn't still petrified. She sighed in relief as she saw on the bed beside her the bushy haired girl slowly getting up.

"Glad to see you're alright as well." She called out grabbing Hermione's attention.

She looked back at her, a small smile on her face. "Yes, looks like the Mandrakes came through. Happy to see you're alright yourself." She saw her looking around the infirmary a small frown on her face. "Do you happen to know which bed Ginny is in?" She asked sounding concerned.

Daphne frowned at that when she did a quick look she didn't see the ginger girl, she looked around again and didn't notice her.

"Tori, did you happen to see where Ginny Weasley is, she was with us in the library." She asked her sister.

A troubled look came over Astoria's face, she bit her lip and quickly glanced down not making eye contact with her. Daphne knew instantly that something wrong had happened, the only other time she made that face was when they learned their pet passed away. She saw Hermione climb off her bed and walked over. She gently nudged her sister hoping to tell her whats wrong.

"There was a message written in blood a few hours after you both were found petrified." Astoria took a deep breath before continuing. "The Heir kidnapped her and another student."

Daphne could feel her heart start to break after she and Hermione tried so hard to reassure the girl and making her feel better, this happened to her. It wasn't fair. She saw Hermione have a sad look on her face, clearly thinking the same. Unfortunately Astoria still had a troubled look on her face, clearly, there was more bad news.

"What is Astoria? What are you leaving out?" She prodded gently.

The little girl started to shed a few tears slowly shaking her head. "I'm so sorry Daphne." She said quietly. "The Heir also took Scarlet."

Daphne couldn't process what she was just told. Scarlet was taken? ' _Tori must be mistaken._ ' She didn't notice herself taking heavier and heavier breaths, all she could her was her heart pounding against her chest. ' _He's probably back in his common room with the rest of the students._ ' But as her eyes frantically looked around, she saw all the victims have their closest friends at their bedside. ' _No, no, no, no._ ' She looked at Hermione hoping that she had some answers, but as she saw her slowly shook her head she knew there was no denying it. Daphne didn't feel the first tear drop, or the next, what she felt was her sister wrapping her in a hug. She let out a small cry as she clung on to her sister for deer life and buried her face in her shoulders, not bothering to keep herself quiet and letting the pain out.

She felt another pair of arms around her as she heard a few sniffles from Hermione. It was ironic, a few hours ago they hated one another, ready to hex each other, but now they were two wounded souls, both needing the other for support for their lost friend.

It was a few minutes before they slowly broke apart, she felt a little better knowing she wasn't alone. It was funny, she often felt the need to push people away, outside of Tracey and family she didn't care about anyone and she was contempt with that for awhile. But then Scarlet got introduced in her life, and over time she grew to enjoy his company, though his humor often was left to be desired. Then she got introduced to Potter, Granger, and Weasley. They weren't exactly friends but they were fighting for the same goal, and that united them in a way she never thought possible. Because right now she felt better that she wasn't alone.

"Dumbledore!" A voice shouted full of concern. Professor McGonagall was racing down the infirmary to where she saw Dumbledore standing with a few other professors.

"Yes, Minerva?" The Headmaster asked.

"I'm afraid more students are missing." McGonagall told him, worry evident on her face.

A few gasps were heard from nearby students overhearing the conversation. "Which ones?" He asked solemnly.

"Potter, Weasley, and Davis aren't in their commons rooms." She informed him. Daphne could feel herself start to panic again, she just lost Scarlet, she couldn't lose Tracey as well, they'd been together for nearly her whole life. She could feel herself shaking and struggled to take steady breaths. She could see Hermione not taking that news any better as she seemed to have trouble standing up, and had to lean on her bed for support.

A dark Auror dressed in purple robes ran over to them. "I'm afraid they aren't the only ones missing. One of my aurors is also missing." He added looking just as concerned.

"Which one Shaklebolt?" Dumbledore questioned immediately.

"Auror Tonks, I believe she was a recent graduate of your school. She disappeared after we arrested Hagrid and hasn't been seen or heard from since."

Daphne could see a frown form on the Headmasters face. "I think your missing students Minerva and your missing Auror Shacklebolt aren't actually missing, but rather choose not to be found." He told both of them after a few moments of thinking.

They both had a confused look on their faces. "Albus why would they not wish to be found? There's a monster terrorizing this school as we speak!" McGonagall asked astonished at such a notion.

"Last year mister Potter and his friends broke curfew to stop Quirrell to steal what was underneath the school, it is by no means a coincidence that once he heard his friends had been kidnapped that he went off to find the chamber. Add to reason the relation Nymphadora shares with young Shade she may have accompanied him on this crusade." Dumbledore explained to them.

"All the more reason we should find them, I'll send any Aurors I can spare." Before Shacklebolt could walk out the room started to shake again, this time much more violently, causing a few people standing up to fall down, and a few potions to fall out of their shelves and break on the floor. It lasted for almost thirty seconds before stopping.

"I'm afraid there's not much we can do, I have a feeling the cause of theses distributing tremors is being caused by mister Potter and his friends engaging the Heir." Dumbledore explained helping McGonagall stand up.

"All the more reason we should find and help them." Shacklebolt responded while helping a few students.

"Unfortunately the location of the chamber is still hidden, I myself have tried to find it with little success, I'm afraid the students and your Auror are on their own." Dumbledore told them gravely.

"You can't be serious Albus, they're just kids." McGonagall pleaded.

"I'm afraid so Minerva, I've sent Fawkes out to see if he can find them, but there's nothing left we can do." He finished with a sad look on his face.

Daphne looked down at her bedside table and saw the mirror Scarlet had given her for her birthday. She slowly reached for it and brought it closer to her, hoping that it could give her some comfort. "Please win."

XXX

"Easy Scarlet." Tonks said slowly standing up and having her hands out in front of her. "It's me Tonks, I know you're scared right now but I came to save you."

She knew Scarlet must've been freaking out, being kidnapped the way he was, he just needed to take a deep breath and realize who she was.

She frowned as the wand that was still being pointed at her didn't lower in the slightest. She looked him in the eye and saw no emotion in them. Scarlet wasn't scared or on edge as she thought he might be, not angry at who he thought was the Heir, nothing.

"Scarlet, we came to save you and Ginny, you're safe." Harry reassured right beside her, he mimicked her actions by having his hands out.

Scarlet eyes flickered between the two of them, a smile broke out on his face. Tonks sighed in relief as he finally recognized them. She was about to step forward and hug the boy before she noticed the smile on his face turned into a smirk, a very familiar smirk the Heir had.

"So you two are the last hope Dumbledore has sent to save his school? How truly pathetic has he become?" Scarlet mused before laughing at them.

Tonks was confused on what was going on, she'd never heard Scarlets laugh sound so dark. She made a step forward and before she could react felt a sharp pain cut her arm. She brought her hand up to the cut applying pressure, she looked at where it came from and saw Scarlet frowning at both of them.

"I wouldn't move if I were you, Nymphadora. Next will be aimed at your throat." Scarlet uttered darkly, but it wasn't his voice that said it, it sounded much older.

Tonks seethed at him, this wasn't Scarlet, he knew better than to call her by her first name. "Who are you!?" She roared. "The real Scarlet would never hurt his friends!"

He smiled at her, amusement in his eyes as if he was onto some joke she couldn't figure out.

"Tom?" Harry asked.

The imposter looked back at Harry. "Well done, Potter. I wasn't sure if you would recognize my voice." He complimented.

"Listen we got to go we have to save Ginny." Harry continued, Tonks didn't know who this Tom was and how Harry knew about this character. This wasn't making any sense.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, you see as Ginny grows weaker, I grow stronger." He said, not caring for the life of the girl beside them.

"Who. Are. You." Tonks seethed, she needed answers now!

He looked at her with amusement. "My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. Or as you all have been calling _The Heir_."

Tonks' eyes widened at this, she knew Lockhart couldn't have been the Heir of Slytherin, but she didn't know why Scarlet was like this.

"You were in the diary, a memory, what did you do? How are you even here?" Harry asked.

Scarlet or Tom reached inside his robes and pulled out a black leathered dairy, the same one that matched the description from what Harry and his friends told her. "You see fifty years I opened the Chamber of Secrets and unleashed the Basilisk onto the school."

"You framed Hagrid didn't you?." Harry asked.

"It was my word against his, only Dumbledore seemed to think he was innocent." Tom sneered.

"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you." Harry smiled, that caused Tom to have a look of annoyance on his face.

"He certainly kept a close eye on me after that." Tom continued, annoyed at Harry's comment. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the chamber again while I was still at school. So I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages. So that one day I would be able to lead another to finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

"That still doesn't explain why you are in Scarlet's body." Tonks interrupted.

"For fifty years I waited until someone was naive enough to use this book. It seemed young Shade needed something to unleash his anger upon, so he wrote in the book the stupidity of two Gryffindor students who crashed their car in the lake on the first day of school. I made my presence known and the boy continued to write in this book throughout the school year. My influence over him growing." Tom explained circling around them.

"He would've realized what you were doing to him, he's smarter than that." Tonks bit back. Along with gathering information she was buying time. Defenseless, and with no wand she needed to come up with a plan quickly.

"He wouldn't even if he was even aware of what was going on. I needed to distract Scarlet's mind for the first few weeks, so when he told me the abuse he suffered under those filthy muggles, I used that to my advantage and made him relive those nightmares every time he fell asleep. While his consciousness was busy dealing with them I had free control on him and made him do whatever I please." Tom explained.

It suddenly made sense why Scarlet's nightmares popped up and weren't going away. Tom was the cause behind it. She curled her fist, Scarlet had been a wreck for months because of the nightmares. "You tortured the poor boy!" Tonks yelled.

"Perhaps, but by plaguing his thoughts with those memories allowed me free reign to open the chamber and to unleash my pet onto the school, and petrify any student I want." He answered, showing no remorse for his actions.

"Why target the Weasleys, I thought your grudge was against muggle-borns." Harry questioned.

"They still are, but when Scarlet wrote about those blood traitor Weasleys on the first day I knew they needed to be dealt with, to send a strong message to any purebloods who have forgotten the old ways." He sneered.

"How does Lockhart fit into all this?" Tonks asked.

"I needed to be careful if Dumbledore even suspected what I was up to I would've been done for. I knew I couldn't be in two places at once, so one night Scarlet was writing to me about his new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. From what the boy wrote of his accomplishments I knew he would be useful, so I had Scarlet use the Imperius curse on him, I dressed him up in that ridiculous outfit and had him be my figurehead. He tasked Malfoy with recruiting my followers and commanding the beast in my absence."

"That's why he's been tired the entire year, you've had him running around this school at night and he didn't even know it." Harry guessed, he felt a bit guilty now for how he talked and thought about the wizard the entire year, no one deserved what Tom did to him.

"Smart boy." Tom complimented. "But now his usefulness is over, soon I'll be free from the dairy and will be able to impose my power onto this world."

"Why bring Ginny down her, why not petrify her like all the others?" Tonks asked.

"The magic of life and death is tricky magic, I needed to sacrifice a soul." Tom explained, he walked over to the girl in question and briefly looked down at her.

"So you're going to sacrifice both of them?" Tonks didn't like where this was going.

Tom shook his laugh, a small laugh escaping his lips. "No, originally I'd planned to sacrifice Scarlet, the longer he wrote in this book the more of his life force would've been drained. But then I learned about him, how truly different he was from the others. As my influence on him grew I saw first hand how powerful his core was, and what kind of wizard he would turn into. By combining his raw power and with my own and knowledge of advanced spells I would be the most powerful wizard the world has ever known." Tom explained to them.

Tonks narrowed her eyes at that, she didn't notice anything strange with Scarlet's magic the few times she met with him, unless. "That would explain how he easily won each of his matches during the dueling club." Tonks acknowledged remembering what Scarlet told her, she'd been too blind by his easy accomplishments that she didn't even question how he was able to duel at that level. She scolded herself for missing the obvious.

Tom smirked at her response. "Yes, that was my first test, surely either of you would've suspected how a second-year student with no previous dueling experience was able to fight well enough and perform the spells as well as a full grown wizard. By fusing myself to him I increased his magical core twofold."

"So you're just using him, like Lockhart, like Malfoy, they were all just tools for you to use!" Harry shouted for the first time losing his cool. Tonks grabbed his arm trying to calm the boy down, they couldn't provoke Tom, not yet.

Tonks' eyes widened as she felt his wand, it was tricky but if she could grab a hold of it without Tom seeing she might be able to surprise him. There was an issue of whether the wand would respond to her, they were tricky things and mainly listened to their masters. However, it was still possible to conjure spells with it just not as powerful or as easy as doing it with their own wand. She nudged Harry hoping he would continue distracting Tom.

Tom frowned at Harry's words, he seemed almost disappointed from his words. "I'm surprised, you would defend someone like Scarlet who holds a very low opinion of you and all of your friends.."

"Your wrong, Scarlets my friend he would never think like that about us!" Harry responded, he tried to make a step towards the Heir but Tonks held him back.

Tom raised an eyebrow at him. "Hermione Granger, an intelligent witch with the annoying trait of showing it off any chance she gets because of her insecurities, much to the frustration of her peers. Ron Weasley, an idiotic boy who's only thoughts in life are about food and Quidditch, and I believe a former bully of Granger." Tom listed off.

Tonks knew what he was trying to do, he was trying to get a reaction from Harry, and from the looks of it, was working. She was close she knew where his wand was but Tom wasn't taking his eyes off of them, she just needed one moment to be distracted.

"Last but not least Harry Potter. The Boy-Who-Lived, as such a powerful wizard couldn't answer a simple potion question a five-year-old could do. A boy who's celebrated for his accomplishments yet his knowledge of the magical world is poor, a disappointment in every way possible." Tom smirked at him. "My personal favorite, hated so much by a lot of people in Hogwarts including his own aunt and uncle."

Harry snapped at that comment he ran forward charging at Tom, the Heir simply smiled as he unleashed a spell right at Harry, the boy was knocked off his feet and landed ten feet away by one of the statues.

"You can include me in that list of disappointed." She heard Tom mutter to himself.

' _Damnnit! I was so close!_ ' Tonks scolded herself, she wasn't able to grab Harry's wand, and now she was out of options.

Tom's attentioned returned to her as he kept his wand pointed at her. "I've humored your questions long enough, I'm afraid this is where you die Nymphadora." Tom said slowly, the tip of his wand turning green.

Tonks saw enough photos to recognize the sickling green color of the killing curse, the fact that it was coming from Scarlet and his wand sickened Tonks.

"Ava-" Tom was cut off as a spell shot straight at him, he dived at the last moment to dodge the spell that hit the water behind them.

"Not so fast vile villain!" A male voice said, Tonks looked over her shoulder and she saw Lockhart 20 feet away with his own wand drawn looking quite upset.

She heard Tom growling in anger as he picked himself up. "Seems you've been broken of my control." He seethed at the interruption.

"Yes, you should know nothing can hold me down forever, not even the Imperius Curse." Lockhart gloated walking closer to them with his wand pointed at Tom.

' _Thanks to mine and Harry's help._ ' Tonks thought bitterly, but she knew this was the opportunity she needed. A quick glance at Tom and he was staring Lockhart, she took a few steps back to see if anyone noticed but they were locked in a heated stare.

Just as Tom retaliated she ran over to Harry and turned the boy over, she breathed a sigh of relief as he looked uninjured, just unconscious.

"Harry." She whispered and shook him slightly, she looked behind her to make sure the attention was off of them. Lockhart and Tom were exchanging spells causing a few of the statues to be blasted into small rocks.

She heard the boy stur below, he opened his eyes and he had a groggy look to him. "What happened?" He asked sitting up.

"You got blasted, but I need you to give me your wand Harry." She asked quietly.

The boy reached into his robes and pulled out his wand before handing it to her. She gave the boy a small nod before helping him up.

She soon heard the fighting stop, she turned around and saw a frustrated look on Tom's face. He put his wand down and started speaking, her eyes widened as he started speaking parselmouth, it unnerved her seeing Scarlet speak like that.

"We have to hide!" Harry yelled pulling her behind a fallen statue providing them some cover.

"What's he saying Harry?" Tonks whispered looking around them.

"He's summoning it." He said quietly with a small look of fear in his eyes.

Tonks knew right away what he was referring and before she could respond she felt the chamber start to shake, right behind Tom the water erupted and out came the largest creature Tonks had ever seen. She quickly ducked and covered Harry with her body as the basilisk emerged.

"Wh-, wh-, t-thats, a snake!" She heard Lockhart stuttering.

"Yes, and she's quiet hungry." She heard Tom smirking at the man, she wanted to desperately jump over and help but her priority was Harry, and in truth, she had no idea on how to handle Tom and his pet snake.

Tonks could hear the quick patter of steps as she assumed Lockhart had turned around and started running. It was a few moments before she heard Tom command the beast to follow. Her heart beat faster as all she could hear was the patter of steps quickly followed by the basilisk slytherin closer. She closed her eyes tightly as she heard the beast screech, quickly followed by a yell as it caught up to him. Tonks could feel her heart beat faster as she could hear the fear in the man's screams. All she could do was tighten her hold on Harry. She could hear a struggle going on, but that ended with a resounding crunch. She nearly gagged as she could hear beast crunching on the professor, she could feel Harry shaking underneath her, the realization coming to both of them that they might die.

She could hear Toms laugh echoing throughout the chamber. "Potter, Tonks. Were you really naive enough to think you could stop the Heir of Salazar Slytherin!? You two half-breeds are **NOTHING!** " It roared his voice changing at the last word. " **My pet, seek them out, and kill them!** "

She could hear the basilisk screech in response before slytherin throughout the chamber, as large as it was they were bound to be found. She eased off Harry and stayed crouched behind their cover, she saw Harry slowly get up and a kneeling position.

XXX

Harry was berating himself, his insistence to come in the chamber had caused a lot of problems. Because of him Tonks was constantly worrying over him and unable to focus on Tom. He swallowed hard as he heard the basilisk coming closer. He looked over at Tonks hoping she had an idea but she was biting her lip in thought, no ounce of confidence in her.

Guilt started to rise in Harry, it was his fault it came to this, he noticed something was wrong with Scarlet the past few months and didn't do anything to help. There were so many signs, the constant nightmares, his power boost in the dueling club and most worrying was his personality change. He found it odd after the incident on the first day he wasn't as angry, in fact, he seemed nicer after that day, more friendly to students and more sociable.

It was now that he realized how big of influence Tom had over Scarlet, just from the memory he witnessed Scarlet had been displaying the same mannerisms Tom had, and most creepy was his appearance. Scarlet had changed his hair and eyes after the first day, at first it seemed like a simple change but he could now see the resemblance between them. It was the exact same style as Tom. The darker comb over hair, and the same eyes he stared at.

Harry knew he had to do something, maybe he could speak to the snake the same way Tom did, but he wasn't sure. If it didn't work or if he couldn't use his parlsemouth abilities he'd just announced their location, indangering Tonks.

He took a deep breath knowing what he had to do, he looked over at Tonks and she saw him look back at him. Harry gave a slight smile before standing up and running towards the other side of the chamber. He could hear Tonks whispering harshly behind him but he was long by then. It wasn't long before the basilisk saw him and he felt it quickly follow him.

It wasn't long before he could hear and feel the Basilisk right behind him, he knew he was out of time. Harry turned around, mindful to keep his head down. " _Ssstop!"_ He spoke in parseltongue. To his surprise and glee, the Basilisk seemed to pause in its attack, just stopping right before him.

" _Don't lissssten to him my pet, he issss an imposssster, kill him!_ " Harry's heart dropped as he heard Toms command, almost on cue he could see the body of the snake rise above him as it schreeced in response. He dove out of the right before its jaw smashed into the stone floor he was just standing on, causing the chamber shake.

"Parsletongue won't save you now Potter, it only obeys me!" Tom yelled out across the chamber.

' _Was worth a try._ ' Harry thought to himself as he hid behind a snake pillar, he knew he was done, he could only hope he could distract the snake long enough for Tonks.

Before he could react he felt the statue exploded behind him, he felt his feet leave the ground as he was launched. He flew in the air for a few moments before landing hard on his back. Harry was disorientated from it, he could barely make aware of a green shape in front of him. He could feel his heart starts to beat faster when he recognized the shape as the basilisk. ' _This is it, sorry everyone._ ' His body still sore there was no way he could get up and run away before being eaten, he closed his eyes and braced for death.

He heard basilisk right on top of him, a low growl emanating from its open jaw. Right before it was about to lunge at him a cry was heard. Harry cautiously poked his head up and his eyes widened at a bright red bird flying in his direction. It was there that he recognized it as Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix. Anyone who walked in the Headmaster's office would see the phoenix sitting on a perch right beside Dumbledore's desk, it was a beautiful creature to gaze at, and right now it was giving him hope that maybe they had a chance.

Fawkes flew over his head dropping something dark in front of him before charging at the basilisk, Harry didn't turn around but he could hear the fight ensued. Talons scraping on flesh caused the snake to screech in pain, Harry winced at the painful sound, but glad that Fawkes was winning. He reached over and grabbed the dark cloth, only when he picked it up he noticed it was a witches hat. ' _No wait, it's the Sorting Hat?_ '

" **NO!** " Harry didn't have much time to think why Fawkes would give this to him before he heard Tom yell out.

Harry finally looked at the battle and was ecstatic as he saw that Fawkes had clawed at the snake's eyes, effectively blinding it. The basilisk wouldn't be able to petrify or kill them by looking at them.

"Your stupid bird may have blinded the basilisk, but it can still find you with its other senses!" Tom roared, outraged that his pet was permanently scared by this.

Harry knew this was true, he still didn't have any idea on how to stop this creature but he needed to put some distance between him and it. He started running off the path through a puddle of water towards some pipes in the distance. The basilisk must've heard his footsteps as it swung its tail widely in his direction, only to hit the floor causing him to stumble as the impact caused a slight tremor amongst the chamber. He soon regained his footing and continued running at full speed, he could hear the basilisk close behind, he climbed into a nearby pipe, just in time too as he heard the snake crash into the wall behind him causing another tremor.

He quickly saw a small crack in the large pipe, enough for him to squeeze through, an opening which led him to a small room filled with black water. He turned around and saw the basilisk roaring behind him trying to get through but the opening was too small. Harry sighed in relief as he safe, at least momentarily. He glanced down almost forgetting about the sorting hat in his hand.

"Okay, now why did Dumbledore give this to me?" Harry asked himself.

 **XXX**

"Is this the part where you kill me Nymphadora?" Tom mused walking through the chamber.

It unnerved Tonks how carefree this person was acting right now. She knew he was just trying to get a reaction from her, exposing her location. Right now she was hidden behind a pillar underneath an invisibility cloak. ' _Just a little closer and I'll be able to stun the bastard._ '

She noticed Tom stop ten feet away from her, just far enough away for him to react and dodge her spell if he was quick enough, which she knew he was. ' _Come on, come on! One more step!'_ She could feel herself gripping the wand so tightly, that it might've snapped if it was an ordinary piece of twig.

She saw Tom looking around for her, she was almost certain he was about to take another step forward before his head suddenly turned in her direction. Tonks held her breath in nervousness, he was staring right at her. ' _He can't actually know where I am?_ '

Her moment of reassurance was literally and figuratively blown away as Tom cast the Ventus jinx in her direction. Tonks gasped in surprise as her invisibility cloak was blown off her.

She saw Tom smirked at her, clearly, he'd been toying with her the entire time.

"I'm disappointed, for someone training in the Auror Academy, they'd done a sloppy job of training you in the art of stealth. Or maybe they're standards are truly that low." He commented, tilting his head slightly in thought.

Tonks grit her teeth at that comment, again Tom was just trying to get her emotional. She took a deep breath, she knew the only way she would win is if she was calm.

She stood up slowly keeping her wand out in case he attacked. "I'm going to make you regret those words when I bring Scarlet back and put you in that damn book." She threatened until she was a few feet away. Tom smirked at her answer.

"Assuming there's anything of Scarlet left." Tom respond, they soon started circling one another, both waiting for the other to make the first move.

Tonks narrowed her eyes at that comment. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I've been influencing Shade ever since he opened my diary. His appearance, mannerisms, and his own thoughts were aligned with my own." Tom explained, taking great delight at Tonks expense.

Tonks could feel herself getting angrier with each answer. Her hand holding the wand started to shake.

"His youth and fears were my allies, so busy dealing with his nightmares, he never saw, he was running right into my trap." Tom gloated with a sinister smile on his face.

"How do I get him out." Tonks uttered quietly, fury evident in her voice.

"Scarlets gone." Tom simply replied.

"How do I get him out!" Tonks roared.

"Suffering in an endless nightmare for all eternity. A broken promise Nymphadora Tonks **failed to keep!** "

It was as if any self-control she had snapped at the comment of her promise to her friend. Tonks roared as she fired off the stunning spell. Tom smiled at her, clearly succeeding in provoking her, but she didn't care. She watched as Tom unleashed the killing curse at her. Both spells met between them, causing an explosion upon impact blowing both of them back.

XXX

"I don't appreciate getting wet, Mr. Potter." Harry jumped as a voice startled, he looked around only to frown when he saw no one else in the room.

"Down here." That same voice announced.

Harry glanced down and saw it was the sorting hat speaking to him. He noticed it had a frown on its face and dripping wet.

"Oh, sorry." Harry said rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"Just don't do it again." It simply said.

"Why did Fawkes bring you down here? Did Dumbledore send you to help." Harry asked, and for the first time excited that he might be receiving help.

"No." It replied.

Harry's face fell at that answer, he frowned at the hat. "If you aren't here to help me, why are you here?" He asked.

"Let me rephrase my answer, I can't help you, not directly." It replied ominously.

Harry could feel himself getting annoyed at the hat, they didn't have time to just sit here and do nothing. "My friends are in danger, I don't have time for riddles. Can you help me or not." Harry snapped taking a few steps towards the small crack.

"I can't help you until you've proven yourself to be worthy."

Harry faltered in his steps, he looked back down at the hat. "Worthy of what? And how?" Harry asked.

"By answering my questions."

Harry groaned at this, he didn't have time to sit here and chat on Merlin knows what, a snake was on the loose and Tonks was on her own.

"Fine, but make it quick." Harry rushed.

"Why are you doing this." It asked him.

"To save my friends and everyone inside Hogwarts." Harry instantly answered it was his motivation to why he spent the entire year finding out who the Heir of Slytherin is, to save Ron's brothers who'd been petrified, to save Hermione and Daphne who'd risked their lives to help.

"Why are you risking your life to save the same people who are scared of you, who believe you're the dark wizard petrifying everyone." The hat asked.

Harry frowned at that question, selfishly it was in part because he wanted to save Ron's brothers and his two friends. As he remembered the somber atmosphere of the infirmary, he knew he couldn't sit there and do nothing, he knew he had to stop the Heir once and for all, not just for his friends, but for every student and person inside Hogwarts.

Harry took a heavy breath answering. "No one deserves to live in fear, to have to watch their backs wondering if they're the next ones to be petrified. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hurt by their words and treatment towards me the past few months, but just like me they're scared."

The hat seemed to be thinking over his words, not saying anything for a few moments before speaking. "Is the reason why you don't feel resentment towards them because you know what it's like living somewhere where your life is in constant danger?"

Harry could feel his mouth go dry, he knew immediately what the hat was referring to, the constant abuse he received from his aunt and uncle. He initially wanted to ask how it knew that, but he remembered on the first day that the hat told him it can search his mind to determine which house he would be best suited for. He'd never spoken to anyone about it, he was certain Hermione knew, but he'd never discussed it with her about it.

He'd never consciously made that connection before, but having it pointed out to him he did see the similarities. For so long he'd always watch his actions, making sure to move very slowly and thoughtful to not do anything that would provoke his uncle's anger. Taking a moment to think over every single word he'd say to not offend his aunt. Many times at night underneath the stairs in his _bedroom_ he'd wish that someone would help him.

The students at Hogwarts might not be abused, but they were living in fear every day hoping some sort of hero would come and save the day. He was certainly no hero, but he wasn't going to stand by and do nothing about it, it was why he ventured into the forbidden forest, why he ventured into the chamber of secrets, why he was currently distracting a bloody snake.

"Yes, I guess you could say that." Harry answered quietly.

"Even though some of them are in Slytherin?" The hat pondered.

Harry almost scoffed at that answer. The time he'd spent with Daphne and Tracey had shown him there was more to the green house than Draco Malfoy. There were kind people, who were just as smart as Hermione, just as enthralled with Quidditch like Ron. They weren't different from Gryffindor except with the color of their robes.

"I don't care which house they are in, or what kind of _blood_ they have. Some are even my friends, and as Dumbledore told me, anyone who asks for help shall receive it." Harry replied honestly.

The hat didn't say anything for awhile, and he couldn't make out the facial expression on the hat, but if he could make a guess it looked to happy?

"I have to say Mr. Potter you remind me more and more of Godric Gryffindor." The hat chuckled. "Despite a difference of opinions he had with Salazar Slytherin he still valued him as a dear friend, and Salazar felt similar. I'm glad to see Shade was able to show you that."

At the mention of his friend and his current condition, the reality of his situation came back to him. "Now Mr. Potter are you ready to do everything within your power to save Scarlet Shade?" The hat asked finally.

Harry nodded instantly, he'd do anything to save his friend. "Yes, I let down Scarlet once, I don't plan on doing it again."

The hat smiled at his answer. "Glad to hear, now reach inside me."

Confused, Harry reached inside the hat, his entire arm was nearly inside before he felt his hand touch something hard. He grasped if firmly and started pulling, he was amazed as he saw it was a very long sword. It was pure silver and there were rubies encrusted onto the hilt of the blade. Looking closer he saw the name Godric Gryffindor engraved just beneath the hilt.

XXX

Tonks batted away another curse watching it impact a wall close by causing a small hole in the wall. It became fairly evident that the combination of Toms and Scarlet's magical core mixed together were far more powerful than her own. Add to the fact Tom was well knowledgeable on darker more advanced magic. Which he easily exploited forcing her to be defensive the entire fight. She sidestepped as another spell sailed past her, she recognized it was a bone breaking curse.

She side stepped behind another statue using it as cover. She knew a direct fight wouldn't end well, she needed to change tactics. ' _Time to show you what the Auror Academy taught me Tom._ '

"Hiding Nymphadora? I expected more than just cowardly tactics from an Auror." Tom mocked, she heard him fire a spell and impact her cover. She shielded her head as some of dubris fell on top of her.

"Fumos." She whispered, she watched as a cloud of smoke erupted from the tip of her wand. She waved her wand around her concealing her immediate location in smoke.

Tom frowned at his opponent. "Another cowardly tactic? Keep running Nymphadora, I'll just knock down any holes you crawl yourself into." He swiped his wand in front of him creating a huge gust of wind that blew away the smoke.

To his disappointment she wasn't there before he could react he felt the ground underneath him explode. He sailed through the air landing harshly on the concrete floor on his back. He quickly recovered as he stood up eyes narrowed looking around him. Once again he didn't see her anywhere. Like before, the ground erupted underneath him causing a much more powerful explosion. He roared in pain as the stone pelted his body and was lifted off his feet. He grit his teeth as he landed just in front of the statue of Salazar Slytherin. Slowly getting up he scanned every inch of the chamber but didn't see her anywhere.

It was then he realized he was searching in the wrong places. He smirked as his eyes locked in the large body of water around him. "Clever girl." He muttered. He swiped his arm in front of him causing a large ripple in the water. He soon motioned his arm in a circular motion turning the once calm pool of water into a rapid whirlpool. He smirked as he saw pink hair poke above the surface. He raised his arm up and lifted the auror in a ball of water. It was to his disappointment as even though she was struggling in the water, she had cast a bubble head charm to be able to breathe.

"My fullest compliments Tonks, I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took me to find you. I'll be sure to never make that mistake again." He darkly finished.

Tonks yelled in pain as the ball of water trapping her shrunk down and was squeezing her body tightly. If it wasn't for the bubble-head charm she'd already be dead having drowned in water, but she knew Tom was purposely not popping it, longing her pain. Every second this went on, more and more pressure she was feeling around her body, any second she was sure her body would snap under the pressure. She grit her teeth fighting through the pain as she pointed her wand up.

"Ascendio!" She screamed through the pain as she shot out of the water like a cannon towards Tom.

She could see his jaw slacken as he wasn't expecting such an odd maneuver. She smirked as he may be more powerful than her, but if there was one thing Tonks had on her side, was unpredictability. Scarlet would attest to that.

She flew into Tom, her fists the first to make contact with his chest. The rest of her body crashed into him and the momentum carried them a fair distance. They finally stopped with Tonks on top of him her weight crushing him and making him immobile, and her wand pointed right between his eyes.

Tonks smirked in victory, she had defeated Tom. As she looked at his face she expected to see him glaring at her, rage clearly evident, but there wasn't any sign of that. In fact, he seemed to be smiling?

"You just got your arse kicked by a half-blood, what are you smiling about?" Tonk sneered at the Heir below him.

"You think you won? How naive are you?" He started laughing at her only for him to start coughing at the pressure she was applying to his body. "Any harm you cause onto me, you're only hurting Scarlet's body."

She leaned her head forward, her eyes dangerously red and uttered. "Then give him back to me."

"I told you Scarlets gone, all that's left of him is what I corrupted." He answered vaguely, the smile never leaving his lips.

Tonks narrowed her eyes at him, she had every urge to use every painful spell she knew on Tom but had to restrain herself. Hurting him would only damage Scarlet's body.

"I don't believe you, Scarlets one of the strongest people I know. He suffered years of torture by those bastards of muggles and he's come out the strong boy I know him to be. What you put him through is nothing compared to that!" Tonks always had to remind herself that Scarlet was only thirteen years old. He was always so mature, more so than she is right now, and after everything he went through was one of the strongest people she knew.

"You don't believe me? **Why don't I show you!** " Before Tonks could react, Toms placed both of his palms on the side of her head and his eyes started to glow brightly. She didn't know what was going on, she didn't know this kind of magic. All she could hear was Tom laughter as her vision was enveloped by the light.

XXX

Harry didn't know how long he'd been running down the large pipe, but all that matters was the basilisk hadn't found him yet. He may have a weapon now but the close confines of the pipe weren't ideal place to fight, he needed to get out quickly.

It was then he saw a light up ahead and it was only getting brighter, he had to shield his eyes with his robes as it was too bright to even look at. He'd only seen something like that when diary he'd first communicated Tom with sucked him into the diary and showed him that memory. Harry had a sinking feeling that it wasn't a coincidence. Once he felt the light start to dim he raced off towards the exit.

He reached the end of the pipe and made a small jump onto a puddle of water. He was near the statue of Salazar Slytherin. He raced forward and the first thing he saw was Ginny's body. He ran over and quickly checked on her, afraid that it might've been too late and they might've lost her for good. Harry sighed in relief as he could still hear her breathing, although it sounded a lot shallower than when he first got her, he knew he was running out of time.

"Yes Potter, the process is nearly complete. In a few minutes Ginny Weasley will be dead, and I will cease to be a memory." Tom spoke out from behind him.

Harry turned around and saw Tom getting up from the floor, his robes were slightly ripped, and his lip was bleeding, looks like Tonks had really put up a fight, but as he glanced around he didn't see her anywhere.

"Wheres Tonks?" Harry yelled out as he stood protectively in front of Ginny.

"That Half-breed will be of no more concern to me anymore, you should be more worried about yourself. In a few more minutes I'll be free to continue Salazar Slytherin's noble work." Tom told him walking over to them, showing no concern over the weapon in Harry's hand.

"Well you haven't finished it this time, right now the Mandrake draught will be ready, and everyone who is petrified will be alright again." Harry took a slight step back, he didn't want to use the sword to hurt Scarlet, only the snake.

Tom smiled darkly at him. "Haven't I told you, killing mudbloods, half-bloods, and blood traitors doesn't matter to me anymore. For many months now my target has been Scarlet, and you."

Harry's eyes narrowed at his comments, he knew since piecing together the whispers he'd heard in the hallways throughout the year, and the attack in the dungeons of Hogwarts that Tom must've been keeping an eye on him, but he still didn't know why.

"How is it a baby with no extraordinary magical talent, was able to defeat the greatest wizard of all time?" Harry could feel Tom getting angrier with each word. " **How did you escape with nothing but s scar!? While Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed!"**

Harry could feel his hands clench harder at the mention of his parent's murderer. "Why do you care how I escaped? Voldemort was after your time?"

An eerily calm look fell on Tom's face. "Voldemort is my past, present and future."

Tom turned his back to him as he took out Tonks wand and wrought in the air. "Tom Marvolo Riddle." With a quick swish, Harry saw the words scramble spelling out something new. His eyes widened as the new words appeared and read out. "I am Lord Voldemort."

"You? You're the Heir of Slytherin?" He asked shocked at the revelation. "You're Voldemort." It was a statement, not a question.

Tom turned back to him, only he didn't recognize Scarlet's face at all. Tom morphed it back to the face he saw back in memory. "Surely you didn't think I was going to keep my filthy muggle fathers name!" He snapped, causing Harry to flinch. "No, I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak when I became the greatest sorcerer in the world!"

"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer in the world!" Harry snapped back.

"Dumbldores been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!"

"He'll never be gone! Not as long as those who remain are loyal to him."

At that moment the large body of water surrounding the chamber exploded spraying him with water. Harry turned around saw the basilisk emerge from the water, thrashing around the chamber. He reaffirmed his grip on the sword, backing away from Ginny, not wanting her to get in the middle of this fight.

Soon the snake stopped thrashing and it seemed to be zeroing in on him, even though it was blind it's hearing was still perfect, with the chamber floor covered in water his foot created tiny splashes that only made his steps louder. It hissed as it moved closer

Harry gulped as the beast moved closer, its numerous fangs staring right at him. He'd faced giant acromantulas, encountered deadly plants, and even faced the disfigured face of Voldemort, but staring in the face of the basilisk terrified him the most. He had to take a deep breath just to stead his arm holding the sword. A quick glance at Ginny's body and his eyes narrowed, he needed to do this, his friends were counting on him!

The basilisk roared before it lunged head first at him, Harry rolled out of the way as it struck and broke the chamber floor he'd just been standing on. With the head of the snake right in front of him, he raised the sword over his head and struck!

XXX

Tonks didn't know where she was, one moment she was in the chamber, the next she was standing in the middle of a room. A house she was almost certain, but unlike her own home where she felt warm and safe. This one made her skin crawl even standing in it. The hardwood floors were scratched up and some boards even broke in half. The couch cushions were all ripped apart, stuffing all over the floor. The windows were cracked and dirty, and the walls had mold growing on top of it. However, all that was tame compared to what she saw next. Right in front of a lit fireplace was a chair with ropes around it loose on the floor. She took a big gulp as a long stick with an X on the end was lying close to it, and worst of all she saw a dark stain underneath. She took a heavy breath as she walked closer and confirmed her suspicions. It was dried up blood.

Tonks nearly gagged at the sight, and she took several steps back. ' _What is this place, why am I here?_ ' She looked around, frantically looking for a way out.

"There's no escape." A quiet voice spoke up behind her.

She was startled by the sudden voice, she turned around and saw a dark figure standing in a corner of the room. The figure walked into the room and Tonks heart soared as she saw it was Scarlet! She was about to walk over and give the boy a giant hug before she saw he was very different.

As his hair used to be black, it was now dark grey, she could see red veins shining brightly on his face and trending further down his neck and probably surrounding his entire body, and most chilling of all was his eyes now shone a very violent shade of red.

"Scarlet, what did he do to you?" She whispered in horror, what had Tom did to him?

Scarlet tilted his head at her, his red eyes never leaving. "What's the matter? You don't like the real me?" He questioned.

Tonks shook her head at his question and stepped forward. "This isn't who you are, this is what Tom has changed you into."

Scarlet frowned at her answer, and slowly shook his head. "No, the Shade you know is the one I wanted you to see, the one who pretends not to be hurt by all the things he had to endure, who pretends to care about you and all those pathetic students."

The room around them started to change, and before Tonks could ask what was going on she saw the room which used to be dirty, was now cleaned and maintained. She furrowed her brows at why the sudden change before she heard voices behind her. She saw three people standing by the fireplace.

The first was a short man, he was bald and dressed in black with the exception of his neck which had a piece of white cloth sticking out. Was that a priest? The other she instantly recognized as Scarlet's father. He was old, probably older than her father, with his choice of mustache and clothing that resembled something they wore back in the '60s. She gulped nervously as she looked down at the last person in the room, a small child strapped to the chair begging to be let go.

Her eyes widened in horror as she watched the short man stepped forward with the stick with the X on it, smoke coming off it, it was very hot, and as he plunged it on the chest of Scarlet. Tonks closed her eyes as all she could hear was the blood-curdling scream of someone she cared about a lot. She could feel the tears rolling down her face as she remembered how terrified and scared Scarlet looked when he showed her the abuse he went through that night back in London. She tried to move her feet to save him but she was unable to move. She looked back at saw Scarlet, not staring at the scene playing out, but at her.

"Why are you doing this!? Why are you showing me this!?" She demanded pointing at the scene in front of her.

"To show you that the boy you thought I was died that night when that priest branded me with that X." It answered back calmly as she noticed the room changing back to how she first found it and the screaming fading away. "I was broken and alone, I wanted the pain to end." He started circling her, never once taking his eyes off her. "But then I realized why I was feeling this pain, it was because I cared about someone. I let myself form attachments to my pathetic excuse of parents, and when they turned on me that made the pain much worse. So I secluded myself in my home for years, knowing there would be no more pain."

A dark look soon came across his face, the first expression of emotion he showed her. "Then you came barging into my life, you showed me your friends, your home, and family, you bragged right to my face the nice things you have, **that I should've gotten but didn't!** "

Tonks flinched at the accusation. She shook her head sadly at him, tears still falling down her face. "I didn't do those things to make your feel worse Scarlet, I did it because I wanted you to experience those things you missed out on."

Unfortunately, she could see her words meant nothing as Scarlet looked even angrier at her. She sighed in frustration as she knew her words alone wouldn't get through to him, she needed to show him somehow that what Tom manipulated him into thinking is wrong. As she glanced around the broken room there was nothing, nothing but Scarlet's old memory. ' _Memory! This is Scarlet's mind! If he can access the bad parts, maybe I can show him the good as well._ '

Tonks closed her eyes and focused on one particular memory she had of him, she didn't know if this would work but she had no other choice. She smiled in glee as she could feel the room start to change once again, she could see the anger on Scarlet's face morph into confusion as he looked around the changing room.

"What are you doing!?" He demanded.

Tonks smiled back at him. "Showing you you're wrong."

The room changed into a more familiar setting, her living room. Specifically, during the holidays last year when she had brought Scarlet over.

A small smile broke out of her as she saw herself and Scarlet by the christmas tree going over what gifts they'd gotten. She laughed as she saw herself making Scarlet very uncomfortable as she was showing off the present Jess had gotten her, a very pink and lacy pair of bra and knickers. To this day she'd never seen his face as red as it was now.

She noticed out of the corner of her eye Scarlet walk over beside her and looking at the memory as well. He didn't say anything, nor did his face give away how he was reacting to this memory.

The scene then shifted to herself and Scarlet, joined by her parents enjoying warm hot cocoa by the fireplace, laughing and enjoying themselves.

"I didn't bring you over during the holidays to show off my family Scarlet. I brought you over because I wanted you to know what it felt like to be loved, to be a part of a family, and most importantly you weren't alone as you thought you were." She spoke softly, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Soon the room changed and multiple memories started appearing, the first one with Scarlet and Daphne having another of their usual banters.

" _You are just not a good listener."_

" _And you like the sound of your voice a bit too much."_

" _I have the voice of an angel"_

" _More like a banshee, but I'm not judging."_

Another appeared, this time on Halloween when Scarlet had found Hermione crying in the bathroom.

" _Listen, I've felt what it's like to be at odds with your house, the nicknames, the chatter behind your back. But you know what? It's because they don't understand us. I've seen your work, you're very intelligent, more intelligent than any of those other idiots. If you need someone in your corner, I can be that person."_

"Please stop." She heard Scarlet mutter, but she didn't listen, he needed to see this.

The next one was with Katie Bell and her apology on behalf of Gryffindor house. Scarlet didn't admit it to her, but she knew it meant a lot to him to be accepted for who he was.

" _Harry defended you by saying that if we had reached out to you at the beginning of the year then maybe you wouldn't have needed to find support from outside of Gryffindor. I know it's a long time coming but I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I know a few others will come up to you at some point, I just you'll be willing to give Gryffindor an honest chance?"_

It wasn't often she'd get to see Scarlet be genuinely happy, and when he gave a real smile to Katie it warmed her heart to see how much he'd grown.

More and more memories started popping up, all happy moments of Scarlet's life spent with his friends. She could see it having an effect as the boy started to clutch his head, almost as if he was in pain.

She grabbed both his shoulders and stood in front of him. "You need to fight it Scarlet." She swept her arm over the numerous images popping by. "This is who you are, not what Tom is telling you."

She could see him struggling, she wished there was something more that she could do, but at this point, all she could do was keep cheering on Scarlet. "I know the real you is in there, I'm right here and I'm not going to give up on you."

" **No!** " Scarlet yelled as dark aura surrounded him, it was so strong that it pushed Tonks back to the other side of the room. Her heart sank as Scarlet was soon enveloped in a dark mist, the only thing she could see through it was two piercing red eyes glaring back at her.

"Bombarda!" Scarlet yelled as a blast broke through the mist. Tonks crossed her arms in front of her right as the blast hit her.

XXX

Harry had to hold back the pain in the arm as the sword bounced off the scales of the snake, it was like trying to slice through stone.

"You really thought that pitiful sword could cut through the tough exterior of the basilisk!? How naive are you?" Tom mocked from behind him.

Harry growled in frustration, what was the point of being given the sword if it couldn't harm him. Unfortunately, the second thoughts occupied him enough that he didn't see the Basilisk tails hit him on the side. Harry cried out in pain as skidded across the floor a couple of feet from Tom and Ginny.

He could hear the Basilisk roaring in triumph, thinking it was about to win. Harry felt similar, as his body was too sore, from the earlier fight and running, he was exhausted. He barely had enough energy to stand, he had to use the sword as a crutch to get up in a standing position.

When the snake charged again he knew he didn't have it in him to roll away, he parted his legs to a more powerful stance and had the sword raised with both arms.

' _Think, think! If the scales are too dense to cut through then I have to strike somewhere else._ ' Harry's mind was going through any possible solution he had, it was moments like these he'd wish he'd paid more attention to DADA class this year, or even to Hermiones and Scarlet's words.

It was then that Harry noticed the Basilisk eyes or lack thereof. His eyes widened as he realized not every part of the snake was covered in its scales, including the open jaw that was staring right at him. He grit his teeth as the snake loomed closer, he'd only have one chance at this. The snake soon reached him and rose above him, its big figure making him pause for a moment.

"Kill him!" Tom ordered.

The Basilisk roared in response to its master before lunging at the Harry its jaws ready to eat him. Harry pulled the sword back, ready. Right before the jaws were about to bite into him, he thrust his sword forward and rammed it inside the jaws of the beast, so deep that it pierced through the snakes head.

The beast jerked back in pain, as its deathly screech filled the chamber, Harry had to cover his ears at the loud pain. He hated to think he was the reason he'd caused such pain to a creature that was only obeying Tom, but he had no choice, it was either the snake or him.

It flailed for a few more moments, crashing into the statue of Salazar Slytherin before collapsing ont to the ground, causing the chamber to shake.

It was then Harry was hit with a sudden pain in his arm. He looked down and saw a tooth of the Basilisk embedded into his arm. With a painful gasp, he pulled the fang out. He looked at the wound on his arm and could see a dark liquid seeping out. His eyes widened as he saw a dark liquid mixed in the blood. He stared down at the fang and guessed that it must've contained venom. He could feel the energy leaving his body quickly, he imagined he didn't have enough time left before he succumbed to it.

He took a few steps toward Tom and Ginny before his legs gave out right in front of them.

"Remarkable isn't it? How quickly the venom of the Basilisk penetrates the body." Harry looked up and could see Tom standing over him, revealing in his victory. "I guess you have a little more than a minute to live. You'll be with your dear mud-blood mother soon, Harry." He said with disgust as he talked down to him.

Harry reached over and grabbed Ginny's hand, the same one that was clutching the diary. ' _I'm so sorry I couldn't save you Ginny._ ' His body was too weak, he couldn't even stand if he wanted to. Tonks was gone, he didn't know where. He'd failed her, his friends, and everyone at Hogwarts.

"Funny, the damage a silly little book could do. Especially in the hands of a frightened little boy." Tom smirked in delight.

Harry gritted his teeth in anger at the words, he couldn't give up, there had to be something he could do? He looked over at the book in Ginny's hands, the cause of all of this. He still had the fang in a death grip, if he could pierce the diary with it, maybe destroying it might finish this. He grabbed the diary and pulled it in front of him, he brought the fang closer and was about it stab it with it.

"No! I won't let a little boy stop my resurrection! Cruci-"

"Pretificus Totalus!" Harry watched at Toms body froze right about when he was going to use the torture curse. He looked behind him and saw Ron and Tracey both using the body-bind spell, keeping Tom in place!

"Now Harry!" Tracey yelled, trying to keep the spell up.

"Do it!" Ron encouraged.

Harry gave a brief smile to his friends before bringing the fang down on the dairy.

XXX

Tonks was using all her effort to keep her protego shield spell up, but it was difficult as Scarlet kept blasting her, spell after spell. There wasn't even a house left after all the damage that was being caused. She knew a direct confrontation would be useless, the powerful blasts sent her way showed Scarlet was in a different tier of power compared to her, even if she did win that wouldn't solve anything, Tom still had control.

It was after the last blast that her shield broke. Tonks fell to one knee, taking deep breaths. She had used up all her energy keeping it up. She glanced up at her friend looking down at her, she couldn't hurt him, not after she promised to take care of him.

"I won't fight you Scarlet, I won't hurt you as your parents did." She told him.

Scarlet just shook his head at her pitifully, lowering his wand. "Your promise that night meant nothing to me. You are nothing to me. I only used you so that you could show me how to master my metamorphmagus abilities so that you could teach me more powerful magic." A dark smile formed on Scarlet's face. "Now I'm more powerful than you'll ever be, I don't need you anymore."

As much as Tonks wanted to say his words didn't affect her, that it was only Tom speaking such things, it still broke her heart to hear it from his voice. She wiped away the tears that were starting to fall, she wouldn't break down, not now. It took everything in her to stand back up, a look of defiance on her face, she was going to save Scarlet! If spells or words couldn't get through to him, then maybe herself could!

Scarlet frowned at her, clearly disappointed she still hadn't given up. He simply raised his wand back up and pointed it at her. "Bombarda."

He watched as Tonks made no effort to roll out of its way, merely standing her ground and absorbing the blast. No matter, it would just save him the time in killing her. However, he was disappointed to hear no screams of pain coming from her, maybe he'd killed her?

As the smoke cleared away he was disappointed to see she was still standing. "I won't give up." He heard her mutter before marching over to him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Scarlet growled before sending another curse at her. He watched as Tonks took the full brunt of the spell again, and just like last time it seemed to not slow her down as she continued forward towards him.

"What? This can't be? How are you still standing?" Scarlet questioned in disbelief as he continued to send more and spells at her, and each one not slowing her down, or seemed to be causing her pain. "This is impossible why won't you go down!" He roared at her, but she still walked over to him, a defiant look in her eyes as her entire body started to glow pink. "That's impossible, is that your magical core!?"

"I won't give up." She said again, Scarlet tried to take a step back but he found both his feet were locked in place, how was she doing this?

"Don't come any closer! Stay back!" He yelled as he struggled to move away from her, and for the first time, Tonks could hear the fear in his voice.

"No matter how dark your heart has become, I will always care about you, Scarlet Shade." She told him as she stood right in front of him. The pink glow growing even brighter.

"No!" He yelled out in anguish as the light enveloped him.

XXX

As soon as Harry pierced through the pages of the diary a bright light shone through and black ink spilled over it and onto the floor. The same light he experienced when he was sucked into the diary. He could hear screams coming from Tom, it was working!

"Keep going!" Ron and Tracey yelled, trying to maintain their control over Tom.

Harry pulled the fang out, closed the book, and stabbed it again through the cover, with more black ink seeping through.

XXX

"You may be stronger than me, but there's one way good will always triumph over evil. I'll never stop loving you." Tonks told him softly as she enveloped the boy in a hug, surrounding her magical core around him and his own. "I'm going to change you back Scarlet."

XXX

"What's happening to me!? Let me go! **LET ME GO!** " Tom yelled as Harry, Ron and Tracey saw as he started to become enveloped in a bright light. It soon became too much and all three had to shield their eyes.

After a few moments the light died down, Harry slowly lowered his arm unsure on what he was going to find. He just hoped that Scarlet was back. The first thing he noticed was that there were two figures sitting right where Tom had been moments ago. He quickly recognized Tonks, he didn't know where she came from but from the looks of it she was alright. He noticed she was staring down at something, following his gaze, he found Scarlet lying on the ground below her, passed out.

"Is he alright?" Tracey was the first to speak up taking hesitant steps towards them.

Tonks looked up gave her a small smile. "Yeah, he's alright, just took a lot out of him."

A small groan was heard, all four of them looked over to see Ginny sitting up.

"Ginny!" Ron yelled as he ran over and engulfed his sister. Harry could see the look of relief on both siblings faces as they hugged one another, it was a stressful year for both of them, he was glad it was finally over.

Harry smiled at the two of them. He remembered in his early years with the Dursleys he wished he had that with his cousin Dudley, he tried a few times to be best friends with the boy, but he quickly realized that wasn't the relationship he would ever have. Dudley was more interested in beating Harry up and looking at him like he was the worst thing he'd ever seen, a horrible trait picked from parents.

He would never say it out loud but he was jealous of Ron, jealous of the family he had, siblings who played with him, parents who loved him. As Harry looked down at where the basilisk's fang pierced him and saw the flow of blood and venom seeping out, he smiled. Glad that he got to experience what it was like being a part of a family during those few weeks he stayed over at the Weasleys before he died.

His shoulders sagged and Harry could feel his body becoming numb, he didn't have much time.

"Harry?" a voice asked him.

He lifted his head and saw the concerned look of Tonks staring back at him. He gave her a small smile. "We did it Tonks, the snake is dead, and Tom won't be controlling Scarlet anymore. I just wish I'll be able to see everyone again."

He saw Tonks lower her eyes and looked at his right arm. She gently put Scarlet down and quickly ran over to him. She looked at his arm, and he could see her mind racing with ideas on how to help him. He knew there was no cure, at least not one she would have on her right now.

"It's okay Tonks, I'm just happy that my friends are safe." He whispered, not having much strength to even talk.

Tonks looked ready to argue, but before she could say anything Fawkes landed beside him. "You were brilliant Fawkes, I just wasn't quick enough." He told her.

The Phoenix looked right at him when it came to magical creatures he wasn't expert, but looking at the tears starting to form around the bird's eyes, she must've felt sympathetic toward him. She then looked down towards his arm, he saw the first few drops of tears fall and land directly on his wound. His eyes widened as he saw the leaking blood and venom stop, even more so the wound appeared to be closing!

Not only that but he could feel his strength returning, he stood up a little straighter confused on what was going on. A second ago he felt as though he was close to dying, now he felt alright.

"Of course, phoenix tears have healing powers." He remembered fondly when he first met the bird in Dumbledore's office, he'd been explained the wonder powers it had, he just didn't think he'd see it in person. "Thank you." He told Fawkes.

Harry looked back to Tonks, Ginny, Ron, and Tracey had walked over to them. "Its alright everyone, it's over. It's just a memory."

"I look forward to putting behind us." Ron said happily looking towards Tracey and Ginny.

"Come on everyone." Tonks announced standing up with Scarlet in her arms. "Let's get back, everyone must be worried."

Tracey gasped as she remembered something. "The Mandrakes should've been administered by then, Daphne must be back now!" The auburn haired girl ran off towards the chamber entrance. Ron and Ginny remembering their petrified siblings quickly ran after her.

Tonks and he ran quickly behind them, for the first time in a long time he was happy.

 **Authors Note: This chapter was a lot harder to write than I originally anticipated, It went through several revisions as well. At the end of the day, I'm happy with it, I just hope that the change in storytelling this chapter wasn't bothersome.**

 **Also, I'm sorry for leaving the last chapter on a cliffhanger for so long, partly because as stated above this was a difficult chapter to get right, and mainly my computer crashed and I ended up losing 9000 words written on this chapter. It's now fixed and as the summer I should have more time to write more.**

 **Also I reached a major milestone I always wanted to do with my fanfic and that is write a chapter longer than 10,000 words. I remember there were certain chapter were I was struggling to even write 2,000. The fact I had enough motivation and ideas to write over 5 digits suprises me, and I feel I put forht my best effort on this chapter, and hope you all enjoy it!**

 **Changing the story to making Scarlet the one behind everything this year was one of the first ideas I had, I tried to leave several clues, one being I think I wrote a nightmare/flashback in each chapter someone was found petrified, also I teased in chapter 13 that Scarlet had found a way to handle his anger, that is writing down your feelings and thus how his interaction with the diary began.**

 **This will affect Scarlet going forward, he's just been possessed by a memory for almost a year, there will be repercussions of this, he won't just be magically fine. One repercussion and probably the biggest one I'll show you next chapter, and trust me, it can't be easily ignored or fixed.**

 **The next chapter should be the final one of year 2, and then we'll move onto the summer and then to year 3. The chapter during the summer arc will probably be longer than last time as there are still a few loose ends that need to be handled before school starts up again. Thanks for reading, I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling**

Within the Shadows Ch 14

Scarlet sighed for what must've been the tenth time, this was not something he was looking forward too. He was currently standing outside a witches lavatory, wondering if he was in the right place, and wondering if he could avoid this meeting by pretending he couldn't find the right place. He shook his head at the silly notions, he couldn't put this off, not after everything that's happened this year, he owed this to the Shadow Alliance. From what he could hear outside the door they were already inside and waiting for him.

Scarlet had woken up in Tonks' arms on the way to the infirmary, to say he was overwhelmed by everything was an understatement, he didn't know why he was in Tonks arms, or what even happened the last few hours. Luckily the attention was soon off him when they arrived in the infirmary and reunited with Daphne, Hermione and the rest of the Weasleys.

He was caught off guard when as soon as Daphne saw him and Tracey walk in, immediately ran over and wrapped both of them in one giant hug. He saw Hermione do the same to Harry and Ron, although the redhead seemed a tad uncomfortable with the physical contact. Astoria quickly came over and joined the three of them, even though he wasn't much for physical contact he had to admit it felt nice.

It wasn't until Ron and Ginny reunited with their brothers that Scarlet started to remember. He felt a wave of guilt as he knew he was the one who petrified each and every one of them. He was at a loss on what to do, then as he looked around and saw everyone who was formerly petrified on the bed, the guilt started to become stronger. He could feel his head in pain so he clutched it with both hands trying to lessen it.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked over and saw Tonks looking down at him, a soft smile on her face. "It's okay." She mouthed to him.

His mind flashed to what happened inside his mind, the horror of remembering him attack his best friend and almost nearly killing her. He tried to push away but Tonks held firm. She must've sensed what he was feeling as she pulled him in a tight embrace. She kept whispering "It's okay" and "It's not your fault" over and over, that didn't stop the incredible pain he was feeling, but it didn't stop him from holding on to her for dear life.

All six members of the Shadow Alliance made a silent agreement to hold off on asking him what happened this past year, part in giving Ron much needed time with his brothers, and the other in giving him time to process everything that happened.

Scarlet was thankful for that as he tried to look back at everything that happened, he could vividly remember seeing what he was doing, writing the messages on the wall in blood, opening the chamber of secrets, commanding the basilisk to petrify the Weasleys, every single moment. However, even after a few days of thinking about it didn't make the idea of talking about any easier, but as he remembered how he kept the nightmares and abuse a secret for so long, he knew he couldn't keep doing that.

Though the numerous questions he and his friends were being asked were ridiculous. No one knew what exactly happened, all they heard was that Tonks, Harry, Tracey, and Ron ventured into the Chamber of Secrets to save him and Ginny. Considering the fact that no one had shunned him or threw spells at him, or even had him arrested meant no one knew he was the Heir of Slytherin, yet.

' _Just another thing to worry about._ ' With one last sigh, he grabbed the door handle and pushed inside.

It felt uncomfortable walking inside this room, he'd traveled in and out of this room numerous times under the influence of Tom, but to stand here now by his own actions left him feeling odd. He could faintly remember Toms feelings of familiarity as he walked further inside the lavatory, that sent chills down his spine thinking of _him_.

Hermione was the first one to look in his direction, the brunette gave him a big smile, he tried to reciprocate but it was hard to be around her, or any of them without feeling horrible for what he did. Actually, that was the biggest thing on his mind. Scarlet didn't want to lose any of them, and he didn't know what he would do if they didn't want to associate with him anymore after this.

"How are you feeling Scarlet?" Harry was the first to ask him.

"Fine." Scarlet instantly answered he cringed instantly as he knew that wasn't an appropriate answer as Hermione and Daphne gave him a small frown.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Honestly? I'm a mess right now, and I don't even know where to start." He confessed.

"Where ever you feel comfortable, we're not upset, we just want to help Scarlet." Harry responded he saw murmurs of agreement coming from everyone.

Even though he didn't know where to start, or what to say, he figured starting at the one place that was causing him the most trouble was a start. He grabbed his right sleeve, and before he could second guess himself he pulled it up exposing his bare arm that was scarred with numerous cuts and burns.

He could hear a few gasps coming from his friends, he looked up and saw Tracey cover her mouth with her hands, Daphne's eyes went wide with shock as she lost her composure, Ron's face paled at the sight, clearly, he'd never seen anything like this. Harry didn't react too much, but he noticed him staring hard at it, considering Tom had mentioned using his past abuse as a means to maintain his hold, Scarlet knew Harry was already aware of this. The only person who didn't react was Hermione, but she already knew his secret, in fact, she looked a little proud that he was sharing this.

He saw Daphne slowly approach him, she raised her hand slowly towards his arm. She looked at him asking silently if she could continue, Scarlet, nodded. She lowered her eyes as her hands lightly touched his arm. Tracing the scars that ran up his arm. It wasn't a painful feeling but it made him wince a little, as he didn't like touching them himself.

Once she was done, she took her hand back and slowly looked back at him. "Who did this to you?" She asked sadly.

"My parents." He responded, pulling his sleeve back down.

He could see Daphne slowly shaking her head at his answer. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would your parents do this to you?"

Scarlet looked over at Harry, he gave the boy a brief look before answering. "Because my parents hated magic."

If anything that made them even more confused, as Daphne couldn't comprehend the idea of someone taking in him only to do this to him.

"Why would a magical family take you in, only for them to do... _that_." Daphne seemed to have trouble even mentioning the word abuse, it was a strange sight to see her this uncomfortable.

"Because, I wasn't brought in to a magical family, I was taken to a muggle one." Scarlet explained to everyone.

He sighed as he knew now would be the time to explain his past, so he did. He mentioned how the Minister of Magic felt it would be best for his safety to be brought and raised in a muggle home, how for a few years he grew up unaware there was anything such as magic. Scarlet then went on to describe his first instance with accidental magic.

The next part he had the most trouble. Scarlet thought by telling Tonks his abuse last year that retelling it would make it easier, he was wrong. So he told them how to the abuse began, starting with simple physical attacks, and then moving onto using blunt objects, to holy water, and to cutting him. Every so often he would pause, the certain memory of his abusers making him want to just shut up, and walk out of this room and never even thinking about it again, thankfully his friends didn't push him to continue, they didn't understand what it was like to be hurt the way he was, but they understood that this was difficult for him and gave him the time and space he needed.

The next part he found was difficult for him to retell. Scarlet was amazed he even managed to share the gruesome story with Tonks, but considering the circumstances leading up to that night in London he wasn't in the right emotional head space and didn't think about it and just acted out.

As he told the story on how he was branded he could see that a lot of his friends had a hard time trying to give him strong looks of support, the gruesome details of his story was gravely affecting them. Tonks experienced something similar when she found out.

"Excuse me." Ron said suddenly as he covered his mouth and ran to the nearest stall. The sound of him throwing up was all anyone could hear.

Scarlet kept his eyes to the floor, he was afraid to look anyone in the eye. He saw someone slip their hand on to his arm and squeezed it affectionately. Startled by this he looked up and saw Hermione looking straight at him. She had a few tears coming down her face but that didn't stop the smile on her face. He was surprised, after sharing all that he thought she would be terrified, maybe even disgusted at him for what he now looks like.

"Its okay Scarlet." She said to him soothingly, her hand never letting go of his arm.

She soon let go as Tracey walked over to them before Scarlet could even say anything he was being crushed in the biggest hug she'd ever given him. He flinched at first, but soon relaxed and reciprocated the affection. She soon slowly let go, not before giving him one last smile and taking a few steps back, just as Ron was coming back.

"Potter, Weasley." Daphne whistled at the two boys. "Give Shade here a hug." She motioned with her head.

Scarlet smiled in amusement as both boys looked at one another, unsure on what to do. He'd never seen the redhead give a hug before, he knew that type of physical contact wasn't something he was comfortable with, and Harry probably wasn't either because of the abuse he'd suffered as well. It took a while for Scarlet to become somewhat okay with physical contact, but that was only because Tonks knew no boundaries.

Scarlet couldn't help but chuckle at Daphne's words, he knew her well enough that she was trying to lighten the moment, and make him feel better. Two could play at that game.

"Its okay boys, I'll take a handshake instead." He then looked over at Daphne. "Although I could use a hug from the Ice Queen of Slytherin." He extended his arms wide and gave him the most innocent smile he could give.

Daphne blushed as she realized her own joke backfired and everyone was looking at her. Scarlet knew Daphne wasn't a hugger, at least not in public.

"No, I already hugged you the other day, once a year is more than enough." She stated, trying to not her voice sound off how uncomfortable she was.

"Daphne." Tracey scolded, and Hermione joined in giving her an intense staredown. "Scarlet has gone through a giant emotional ordeal he needs our support, now!"

Daphne glared at her friend, she looked at everyone and knew she had pigeonholed herself into this, grumbling under her breath she slowly walked over to him and tentatively wrapped her arms around Scarlet. He had a small smile on his face as he reciprocated, he was about to make a small joke before she whispered something to him.

"Not. A. Word." She stated, though he couldn't see her face, he could tell she was glaring.

Once they let go, and everyone had their laughs, it felt as though the tension was gone in the room. Scarlet figured this was on purpose for his sake. It would've been easy to continue this positive momentum and enjoy the moment, but he knew he wasn't finished explaining, and he still had a few things to bring up, he owed it to them.

Scarlet cleared his throat getting everyone's attention. "I wanted to bring this up because this has been affecting me for a while, and someone much smarter than I felt I needed to get it out and share this with people who are supportive of me."

He gave Hermione a long look, she could be a little smug when she and everyone knew she was right on something, but she didn't look like that now, instead, she just seemed happy that he was taking her advice. Scarlet couldn't help think that maybe talking to Daphne was a humbling experience for her, he'd have to talk to the both of them sometime this summer about that.

"Another reason was that Tom used my abuse against me." Scarlet took a big gulp before continuing. "I was too stubborn to try seeking help and I continued to fall into his trap. I let my weaknesses get the better of me, and you all paid for it. I'm sorry." Scarlet had his head down, talking about what he did made it hard to look them in the eye.

"Scarlet." He heard Tracey say. "Scarlet!" That got his attention as he brought his head back up. He saw Tracey look very upset. "Don't ever call what happened to you as a weakness." She scolded shaking her head. "Abuse isn't a weakness, it's brought out the strength that was always inside of you, and it's why you're standing here today surrounded and supported by your friends. You could've been angry, sad, withdrawn, and detached and I don't think anyone would blame you considering the hell you had to go through, but you didn't let it define you, you made friends, you went out and experienced what life has to offer, and most importantly you're happy." She finished, giving him the biggest look he ever saw from her.

All his life he'd been ashamed with what happened to him, he tried his absolute best to hide it from people, his constant use of metamorphmagus was proof of that. When the nightmares started to form, it just made him try even harder to push it down his subconscious and to not let it affect him.

Scarlet took a deep sigh as he tried not to let his abuse weigh him down anymore. "You're right Tracey." He nodded to the girl. "If I'd realize that then Tom wouldn't have been able to manipulate me the way he did this past year. I'm sick of my past defining my actions and thoughts, I'm done letting it consume me." He finished strongly, and for the first time, he spoke with pride in his voice when talking about his past.

Scarlet walked closer to Ron, he struggled to find the right words, how do you apologize for nearly killing one's family?

"Ron, I'm so sorry, because of my actions you nearly lost your brother, your sister was almost sacrificed for a mad man, and I put you and your remaining family through so much pain this past year. I know there's nothing I can do to take away what I've done, and you probably will hate me forever, but I am sorry and will try to do anything to make it up to you and your family." Scarlet felt his mouth go dry at the end of his apology, he'd gone over numerous times on how to try to apologize, at one point he thought to give him money might help since he's heard his family wasn't that well off but shook his head at the stupidity of that idea. He had no idea on how Ron was going to react, he'd seem calm when they were walking back, but maybe now having time to think things over as he did, maybe he was outraged at him. He wouldn't blame him if the redhead punched him in the face, he deserved it.

Ron looked him in the eye and didn't say anything. Scarlet had no idea what the redhead was thinking, normally he was easy to read based on his body language, but as he looked down and saw Ron's hands weren't clenched, nor was his arms crossed, he wasn't even glaring at him, he didn't look upset.

Ron stared at him for a few more moments before sighing. "It's not your fault Scarlet. I had a lot of time to think about it, yeah I was bloody furious when I found out it was you, but then Harry told me what happened in the chamber, and you telling me what happened, I know it's not your fault, and you don't have to apologize." Scarlet's eyes widened at Ron's statement, the boy who had the biggest temper actually wasn't upset at him?

Scarlet had trouble trying to find the words to respond. "Ron, regardless, I hurt you very much." He tried to argue, he turned back to everyone. "I hurt all of you, I brought this alliance together only for me to be working against you. I put each and every one of you in danger."

Hermione just smiled as she looked at Daphne. "Scarlet it's okay. Yes all of us could've died, but you weren't behind it. This Tom Riddle was controlling you, he's the one at fault. If anyone else had gotten a hold of the diary then they'd be in the same position as you were."

"Bloody hell, the diary could've been mixed in with Ginny's book even." Ron shuddered at the thought.

"Rons right, anyone would have received it and fell in the same trap as you." Tracey added. "Just don't blame yourself okay, because we don't."

Scarlet was touched by their words, in all the scenarios he thought this conversation would go, this had to be the last on the list for him. He just didn't expect them to forgive him this easily. He mused how if the roles were reversed and a year ago he would've not given them a second chance, and just used this to reaffirm his belief on keeping people away. ' _Guess it shows just how much better people they all are than me._ '

"Thank you, everyone, it means a lot that you still want to be my friend." He genuinely smiled at them.

Everyone seemed to smile at his words, glad the boy was handling things a lot better now, but there were still a lot more things they needed to know.

"Well, I wouldn't go as far as _friend_ , maybe personal servant." Daphne mused.

Scarlet rolled his eyes at her. "You wouldn't be able to afford me."

Daphne raised her eyebrow. "Payment? You're serving the wonderful and noble house of Greengrass. Being in such a presence of a beautiful and intelligent pureblood should be payment enough." She said running her hand down her hair for emphasis.

"You're right, serving Isabelle Greengrass is payment enough." Scarlet smirked.

"I wasn't talking about my mother you prat." Daphne laughed smacking Scarlet's arm lightly.

That caused him and everyone else to start laughing at their banter. Everyone seemed to have truly forgiven him, they were now starting to act like actual friends, hanging out and laughing together kids their age should be doing. Scarlet noticed that Harry still had a troubled look on his face.

"What's wrong Harry?"

"Scarlet, how did you get into possession of the diary? I thought you'd be the first one to report a dark artifact like that?" Harry asked the biggest question on everyone's mind.

Scarlet felt himself blushing at Harry's question, surprising everyone. "I...didn't know it was dark." He answered slowly. "I thought it was just a normal book." He internally winced finishing at how stupid his answer sounded.

"How the bloody hell did you think it was normal?" Ron asked incredulously at the idea.

"After we crashed landed in the lake, I was still upset about what you two did. I remembered Tonks mentioning how muggles vent their frustrations through writing. It was a blank book so I just started writing." Scarlet answered back.

"And the fact it started writing back to you didn't cause you to question it?" Daphne asked skeptically.

Scarlet simply shrugged. "I thought that was normal, despite studying so much about magic when I first got my letter there were still a lot of things I didn't know. I mean there's a lot of simple objects that speak to you, hats, portraits, even things called a Howler."

Ron reluctantly admitted that Scarlet had a point and cooled off from his earlier behavior.

"Listen I don't know how I even got the book. I found it with the rest of my second-year supplies." Scarlet continued, looking back he still had no idea on how the diary came to him.

"I doubt Flourish and Blotts supply children with dark artifacts, you think someone planted it on you?" Hermione thought out loud.

"But who could've done it? The only ones there were Ron, his family, Scarlet, Tonks, myself and…"

"Malfoy!" Scarlet, Hermione, Ron, and Harry guessed at the same time.

"Of course, it's obvious. When all of us got knocked over all our books fell onto the floor. The Malfoys could've easily dropped it onto the floor as well while we were distracted." Hermione theorized. Everyone seemed to nod in agreement, it made a lot of sense.

"It would explain why Draco was helping the Heir." Ron added as well.

"I doubt Malfoy jr was cunning enough to orchestrate this, the idiot got himself petrified too." Daphne retorted. They'd discovered a little after they got back into the infirmary that Draco had been found petrified in a classroom.

"No, but Malfoy senior would." Harry growled, with Ron sharing a similar sentiment.

Scarlet shuddered at the memory of Lucious Malfoy, he still remembered his first meeting with the man. He'd never met someone who could seem very charming but at the same time unnerve you by just talking to him. If Malfoy senior was in fact behind all of this then this just reaffirmed this was someone he did not want to be around. He still remembered Cyrus Greengrass telling him last summer, now that he had blonde mans attention he'd be making it his mission to find out about his lack of parentage, and with that information who knew what he would do with it.

' _I'll probably have to talk to Cyrus this summer at some point._ ' Scarlet mused, trying to formulate a plan.

"Of course it had to be him, the one man who has powerful connections inside our own government." Daphne then cursed under her breath as she herself seemed to be thinking on how to proceed.

"Can't we take this information to Dumbledore." Harry suggests, he then walked closer to Scarlet. "Scarlet, Tonks is an Auror, surely if we tell her she can inform someone who can do something."

Scarlet shook his head at Harry's idea. "Neither won't work, we don't have any proof that leads back to Malfoy, as certain as we all are, our words won't be enough. Especially against someone who can bribe and manipulate his way out of a life sentence to Azkaban prison."

"We can at least mention it to Dumbledore, he must have connections and resources himself, if he knows Lucius is actively putting his students in danger he'll do something." Hermione argued.

"I agree with Hermione. Besides, he's asked to meet with Ron, Harry and me later today to discuss what happened." Tracey added.

"Harry you mentioned seeing Tom interact with Dumbledore in that memory you were shown, the Headmaster will know how Tom created the diary and how he became like this." Hermione asked.

Harry had a dark look on his face as Tom was mentioned, almost as if someone told him he'd have to see Professor Snape in the summer.

"Harry, is everything alright?" Hermione asked tentatively.

Harry just shook his head at her, a look closer and Scarlet noticed that Harry's fist was clenched. He narrowed his eyes wondering why did Tom have such an extreme reaction. Scarlet was probably the most upset about Tom Riddle than everyone and yet Harry looked as if he wanted Tom to be alive just so he could kill him.

Harry opened and closed his mouth a few times, struggling to come up with the right words to say. No one said anything, letting the boy come to the words himself.

"When I was down in the chamber, Riddle spoke to me." Harry began. Scarlet was instantly piqued by this, he may have remembered what Tom forced him to do during the school year, but his memory of the chamber a few days ago was extremely hazy. "I know why Tom was obsessed with recruiting purebloods and attacking Muggle-borns and _blood traitors._ " Harry took a big gulp. "It's because he's done it before."

"Blimey Harry, I'd think I'd remember if a Tom Riddle waged war on Britain." Ron mused shaking his head at the notion.

"That's the problem, Ron, Tom wasn't using his actual name." Harry answered back.

"What name was he using?" Tracey asked nervously.

Harry took a big sigh. "Voldemort."

It was quiet inside the bathroom after Harry's reveal. No one said anything, whether because they didn't believe Harry or were just unsure how to process this new information. Scarlet's mind was racing with thoughts. Did Voldemort command Lucius to implant the diary to a student? Or was Voldemort somehow forced into the diary after Harry defeated Quirrell last year?

Regardless, it didn't change the fact that for an entire school year Scarlet was possessed by the darkest wizard of all time. His mind suddenly flashed to an image of Tom revealing to Harry his true identity in the Chamber of Secrets.

Scarlet didn't say anything as he walked over to the sink close by, he placed both his hands on the sink and used to as support to keep him upright, not trusting his legs to keep him up. ' _I'm going to be sick._ '

He felt a hand on his back, he flinched at the unexpected contact, but he soon relaxed as the hand starting to move up and down. The soothing motions worked, as he started to feel better. He muttered a quick thanks to the person behind him.

"Potter, you do realize that He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is dead right? You killed him." Daphne stated it wasn't a question but a fact.

Harry grit his teeth at the mention of the night of his parent's murder. "I'm very aware of that Greengrass, but Voldemort is alive."

Scarlet could hear Daphne and Tracey hissed in fear at the name being mentioned. It was strange actually, he'd never been around the wizarding world growing up, so he was never taught to fear the name, to see other people react as strongly was odd.

"Daphne it's true." Hermione called out directly behind him, she was the one rubbing his back.

"He possessed Quirrel and tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone." She explained.

Daphne didn't say anything for a moment, both Tracey and she looked unsure and just stared back at the rest of them to see if they'd break in their words. But as everyone looked back at them with a grim look, they soon both realized what they were saying was true.

Daphne shook her head slightly at them. "Bloody hell, you're all serious." She said more to herself.

They soon caught up Daphne and Tracey on what they learned last year, and from what Dumbledore told them. To how Voldemort's body was destroyed and was left as a ghost wandering the world looking for a way back.

"So what happens now?" Tracey was the first to speak after their explanation.

Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Scarlet all looked at one another.

"We stick with the plan, we explain what we know to Dumbledore, he has the connections and resources we don't." Scarlet pointed out, everyone seemed to agree with the plan.

"Then I guess that's it then, nothing against all of you, but I think I've spent enough time in the bathroom." Tracey jokes.

Daphne and Hermione looked at one another as if they were sharing a telepathic conversation, Scarlet saw the blonde shrug, and Hermione followed suit.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Actually, there's something we need to discuss. I've been speaking on Daphne for a new location for us to meet in secret since the classroom we've been using is pretty much destroyed. We think this bathroom would be a great spot."

"Blimey Hermione, you want us meeting in a girls bathroom? What if someone finds us here? Don't need another detention with Filch." Ron shuddered at the memory.

"Considering this is Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, no one goes in, in fear of the ghost. Another point, we've been here for a while and no ones stepped inside, nor have we heard anyone pass by." Hermione explained logically.

Scarlet looked around the bathroom, it wasn't ideal, it was a tad dirty, but that was because no one came inside. However, the fact it's unused meant they'd have a lot of privacy. Though with the Heir of Slytherin no more would Daphne and Tracey still wants to interact with his other three friends.

He heard on his side Hermione and Daphne talking animatedly about something, he couldn't hear what, but from the facial expressions, they both seemed really excited about it. A glance over to everyone else and he saw Harry, Ron, and Tracey having their own conversation as well. From the large arm motions Ron was making Scarlet thought he was telling them about Quidditch? Regardless, Tracey and Harry seemed too enamored with his story and seemed to be enjoying it.

' _I think the six of us will be seeing spending a lot more time together.'_

XXX

A few days after their talk things had quieted down, there was still a lot of discussion on what exactly happened, details had been very quiet and only rumors were being discussed. Scarlet was thankful because any day now everyone would know he was the Heir of Slytherin.

At that point, he didn't know what would happen to him. The scared students would probably do everything they can to stay away from him, others would bully him, throw insults and most likely jinxes his way, similar to how horribly they treated Harry when everyone thought he was the Heir of Slytherin, and that would be getting off light. Tonks had met with her boss a few days ago and reported the details of what happened that night, most likely news should've been made public in today's issue of the Daily Prophet, the wizarding newspaper.

He knew he'd broken a lot of wizarding laws while posing as the Heir, using one of the unforgivable curses on Lockhart, and causing his death was punishment enough, adding endangering students, and petrifying them would just add years on what was probably a life sentence already.

Scarlet knew deep down he deserved it and more, he let his naivety on the diary let Tom complete control over him. If he'd just said something or not even touched it he wouldn't have hurt so many people. He sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day just thinking over how much pain he caused everyone here, teachers included would remember what happened this year, that fear that someone inside this castle could hurt you and possibly kill you isn't something that goes away easily. He still remembered years after disappearing from those muggles that as soon as that man found him in his first year and started yelling the emotion, pain and memory of it all suddenly came back. It's something that stays inside you for a long time.

Scarlet sighed again as his life of solitude, quiet, and peace were most likely over. This incident would push him into everyone's attention, and who knew how long before everyone realized he wasn't actually being watched by anyone and was on his own. He imagined the Ministry would probably have a whole squad of Aurors on their way here now to arrest him.

He reached the Great Hall, and saw it was already packed full of students, he looked around and found the trio sitting around the middle, an open seat probably saved for him. Scarlet marched forward prepared for the onslaught he expected to come, but as he walked further into the hall, the conversations didn't hush as people noticed him. In fact, he made eye contact with Katie Bell, and instead of a glare he expected from the older girl, she just smiled and waved at him before rejoining her conversation with her friends.

Confusion etched on his face. ' _Maybe she looks at me as a friend no matter what._ ' Shrugging he continued walking to his friends.

"Scarlet!" Two voices called out to him.

The boy looked over and saw Fred and George seated at the table enjoying their meals. They both stood up, and Scarlet closed his eyes in anticipation for the pain about to come. ' _This is it, hopefully, it isn't too embarrassing.'_ He felt something wrap around his body, he frowned as after that nothing happened, no pain, no magic, what was going on?

"Oh Scarlet!" One twin shouted

"We missed you!" The other joined in.

Scarlet opened his eyes and saw the twins wrapping him up in a giant hug. It wasn't something that was new for him, the twins always knew he was not a hugger at all, and they did it embarrass him by being overly emotional, and loud when they did it, thus doing the job.

They soon let go and both frowned at him. " I think he's broken George." Fred grabbed Scarlet's face and started to peer more closely at him.

"I agree brother, by now Scarlet would be pushing us away and calling us idiots." George added as well.

After a few moments, Scarlet broke out of his shock and shoved Fred's hands away. "Stop touching my face you twat."

"Ah, there's the Scarlet we know and love." They said happily.

' _They're...happy to see me?_ ' Scarlet had no idea what was going on, Fred and George Weasley should hate him, and yet they're acting as if they haven't been petrified for most of the year.

"Are you two okay?" He asked slightly apprehensive.

Both twins started to pat themselves down. "Yeah, we're right as rain, no silly petrifying will keep us down." One twin chimed in.

"If anything we now have to make up for lost time with more bolder pranks!" The other added.

They both put one of their hands on Scarlet's shoulder. "And we expect you to help." They smiled evilly at him.

"Sure." He said uneasily, worried if he did or say anything wrong that would set them off.

Before Scarlet could react both of them spat into their respective hands and grabbed onto his own and shook it firmly. ' _Now this I didn't miss._ ' Scarlet pulled his hands free and wiped on his robes before moving past the twins towards his friends.

"We know you missed us!."

"We missed you too!"

Scarlet internally winced at that comment, the only reason they were gone for so long was because of him. Every time he laid eyes on a Weasley the guilt would creep up and all he could think about was how much of a terrible person he was, and since there were six Weasleys in Hogwarts, he felt guilty a lot.

He knew Ron held no bad feelings towards him, the redhead was surprisingly forgiving and understanding with him. Initially, he thought it was because they were in a group and that he'd blow up at Scarlet when they were alone, but he didn't. Ron surprised him one morning by inviting him to play chess, reluctantly agreeing he played one game with him, and every moment he was waiting for lashing he thought would come, but instead, Ron spent most of it focused on the game, and when he was not, talking about Quidditch.

It wasn't until the day afterward he asked Harry and Hermione if Ron was still upset with him. They both quickly reassured him that he wasn't, and had moved on from it, spending a lot more time with his siblings than he normally would have, and actually seemed happier.

He seen reached his friends and sat down, the question on why no one was hating him on the tip of his tongue. Right as he was about to ask he was interrupted by Professor McGonagall banging on her glass, getting everyone's attention.

"Before we begin the feast, let us have a round of applause for Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey. Who's Mandrake juice has been so successfully administered, to all who had been petrified." The students started clapping in appreciation, without those two the students who were still frozen would still be petrified. Scarlet wasn't even a little surprised to see most of the Slytherin students clapping as well.

Once the applause started to die down Dumbledore continued to speak. "As you all are aware, this was a dark year in the history of Hogwarts, we nearly lost friends, family, those most important to us. I feel as though as Headmaster I owe it to you to tell you personally what happened, and who was responsible for such dark events."

Scarlet could feel his breath getting heavier, the entire school was going to know. ' _This is it._ '

"The person responsible for the attacks was Gilderoy Lockhart." Dumbledore revealed much to the shock of everyone in the Great Hall.

The hall erupted at the admission, denials were thrown around. Scarlet was just confused about why the Headmaster was lying. He looked over at his friends to gauge their reactions, and he noticed they didn't seem surprised, in fact, they looked as if they expected it?

"Though his methods are still under investigation, it was revealed that he was the one who opened the chamber of secrets. He unleashed a beast onto the school and had it petrify students. His goal was to create a catastrophe so large that when all hope was lost, he would step in and kill it, seeking the reward and glory that came with it. He had our gamekeeper Hagrid framed as the Heir in hopes of throwing us off his trail. His plan became his downfall when he underestimated control over the beast and it killed him." Dumbledore continued, much to the horror of the female population of Hogwarts.

Scarlet frowned as the Headmaster continued lying, he didn't understand why he was doing this, why protect him?

"However, he was not acting alone." Every student, including some of the teachers, leaned in at the news of an accomplice. "Lockhart's cause was joined willingly by Draco Malfoy, the young boy used this opportunity to spread fear and chaos, along with trying to divide this school along bloodlines under the orders of Lockhart. It is with this unfortunate development that I've felt in the best interest in Hogwarts, her students, and staff that young Draco is expelled."

There was mass mayhem from the Slytherin table, Scarlet thought at first students were upset that he was expelled, but as he could start making out a few words, he could tell the anger wasn't directed at Dumbledore, but at Draco.

"That liar! He was doing this because Lockhart told him too!?"

"Should've never trusted a Malfoy!"

"He made of full out of all of us!"

More and harsher words were being spoken, Scarlet had never seen the Slytherin students so emotional in public. They prided themselves on maintaining a professional manner, at least in public, to see this level of anger made him glad it wasn't being directed at him.

"Quiet!" Dumbledore roared, causing all the students to stop talking. "Mr. Malfoy will face severe punishment for his crimes, but to those who were manipulated by his words, here this. If you truly want to change the world, then it can't be through violence. No, I've seen people with the best of intentions use violence as a means to submit the world to their order, but that won't work, just makes people fear and resist you." Dumbledore had a sad look on his face as he started talking, Scarlet couldn't help but feel this was something very close and personal to the old wizard.

"It's by working with individuals who have the same goal, but also different from yourself, someone who won't just agree with your judgments but offer differentiating opinions. Everyone in here, myself included are constantly learning, constantly growing, by next year we'll all be different, some more than others, but that's a part of growing. That's a part of life, meeting new people who can offer views and opinions different from your own and make you change and grow." Scarlet saw the Headmasters' head turn towards the Gryffindor table.

"However, I am a man who feels it's sometimes better to show, rather than just talk. Would Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Scarlet Shade, and Ronald Weasley please join me up here." He announced looking at the four. They all looked uncertain about why they were being called up. "Along with Daphne Greengrass, and Tracey Davis." Dumbledore added.

Scarlet could see the similar looks of confusion on both of the girls faces, but they merely stood up and joined them at the front of the Great Hall.

"These six students are the reason myself, and you all are standing here today. They tasked themselves with uncovering this plot against Hogwarts, they discovered the identity of the Heir of Slytherin, found his chamber, and foiled Lockhart's plan and saved all of us from him." He announced, and the six of them could see much confusion and discussion going on, not surprising since the idea of Slytherin and Gryffindor students working together was unheard of, there was a huge divide between the two houses. "A group of Slytherin and Gryffindor students put aside past house divides and worked together to make a difference, and exceeded in the most powerful of ways. I'd hope you all take a hard look and see what can happen when you work together and not fight with people, you never know when you'll need them. It's because of this that I'm awarding all six of them an award for their services."

Dumbledore raised his wand and out in front of them, six trophies materialized with plaques on each of them.

"Highest School Honour awarded to Scarlet Shade." He quietly read, and he saw all the others shocked at the ward given. Not many students receive this honor and the fact six were given out to second-year students.

A round of applause broke him out of his stupor and he saw the entire Great Hall standing up and clapping for them. Scarlet started to have trouble breathing as this was all very overwhelming, they should be cursing at him, not celebrating him, two people were taking the blame for his actions, this wasn't right.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he saw Harry standing beside him, he didn't look worried but just gave him a small smile. "You deserve this." He mouthed to him. Scarlet gave a small smile back, the words did help a little.

Dumbledore once again signaled for the students that there more to say. "I think I speak on the entire staff and students when I say this is a well-deserved honor, and we will forever be in your debt." Dumbledore turned to them and gave them a big smile.

"Snape in our debt? This must be hard for him to watch." Ron whispered excitedly to Harry, the boy wonder chucking lightly in amusement.

"You may have noticed that throughout the school year, no house points were given, nor taken away. The staff and I felt with the dark events plaguing the school year it would've been inappropriate. However, with such a beautiful display of Hogwarts unity between two houses we've decided to award the House Cup to Gryffindor and Slytherin!" Dumbledore clapped his hands and everyone saw the banners overlooking all of them change to red and green.

"Two houses awarded the cup, that has never been done in the history of Hogwarts." Hermione whispered, more to herself than them.

Dumbledore chuckled at the young girl's comments. "Until now we've never had a reason to do so." He grabbed the House Cup that was sitting on a table beside him, he brought it to them and motioned for one of them to walk over and accept it.

The six of them all looked at one another, unsure of who should go and accept it. Scarlet knew for certain he wouldn't accept it, it was hard enough to accept the word, besides he knew the award meant more to them.

Hermione motioned for Ron to step forward." What?" He asked surprised.

"It's all you ever talked about Ron, go and accept the award." She told him happily.

The redhead looked at both Scarlet and Harry and both nodded at him to go grab it. He took handed his trophy to Hermione and took a few steps forward before looking back at Tracey.

"Come on Tracey." He urged the auburn girl.

Tracey seemed surprised at his comment. "You want me to lift it with you?"

"Yeah, we're friends right? Let's do it together." The girl squealed in delight, and hastily handed Daphne her award before sprinting over to him and Dumbledore.

The old wizard smiled at the display, he handed the award to both of them. Each of them with one hand on the handle. "Congratulations, I'm very proud of both of you for putting aside house loyalty for each other."

Ron blushed at the praise and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "I was being very daft last year, snakes are actually alright."

Tracey stuck her tongue out jokingly at Ron. "And Gryffindor students aren't as idiotic as Daphne thought they were."

Both laughed at each other's comments, and everyone on stage had a smile at the display. They both walked forward and they nodded at one another before raising the award together, and another round of applause erupted.

Even though he still felt guilty over his actions it was hard not to feel the joy at everyone's celebration. As Scarlet looked over he saw his friends were happy and saw the entire student population including Slytherin cheering enthusiastically at them. A smile formed on his face, it felt right, and most importantly he felt happy to be here with them.

' _It can only get better from here?_ '

XXX

There was no word in the written language that could describe the anger and fury Lucius was feeling towards his son. He had warned the boy to keep his head down and not get himself involved in anything during this year, but the stupid boy didn't listen. Not only had he interfered with his plans but because of his actions had gotten himself expelled from Hogwarts and tarnished the family name he worked so hard to bring respect too.

All mudbloods and blood traitors were not dead, and only he himself suffered for what happened. It had taken a generous _private_ donation to Minister Fudge on his part to lessen Draco's punishment to only expulsion and not be arrested. If it wasn't for the fact that Draco was his only child he would gladly let the boy be thrown in Azkaban prison, but he was his only heir and the future of the Malfoy line.

A small groan interrupted his thoughts, he looked down at the boy on his knees on the floor. As soon as he brought him home he put the boy through the most painful spells imaginable, it was a long time coming that boy learned the harsh world he lived in.

"Lucius perhaps he's learned his lesson." Narcissa said quietly behind him.

"No." He said quietly to his wife. He let Narcissa coddle him too much, it made the boy weak, arrogant, and far to reliant on his parents.

He turned to his wife and placed a hand on her cheek. "I promise Narcissa this is for Draco good, the entire wizarding population will hate him, I need to toughen him up or else this world will crush him." He whispered comfortingly to his wife.

He could see the look of conflict on her face, she looked at her son whimpering on the floor, and back to her husband. She nodded shakingly at him before standing back to give him room.

XXX

Draco gritted his teeth as every part of his body ached, as soon as he got home his father subjected him to every spell he could think of. "To make him stronger." He'd been told, but he knew this was his father's way punishing him. He'd tried to explain how it wasn't his fault, using the same excuse his father used that he was being controlled under the Imperius curse, but his father immediately backhanded him.

He spat out blood that was pooling in his mouth, he gagged in disgust at the taste it left on his lips. It wasn't fair, he was only doing the bidding of the Dark Lord, to try to make the world a better place for purebloods, instead, he was being punished for it.

What made him even more upset was the fact that the papers had written that Lockhart and himself were at fault, they were the ones behind the attacks. The fact they were protecting the actual criminal was appalling, he knew who did it, but with everyone against him, no one would believe it. He'd take great pleasure in killing the person who humiliated him. The same person whose face he saw moments before being petrified.

"I'll kill you Scarlet Shade if it's the last thing I do."

 **Authors Notes: That concludes year 2, and we'll now move on to the summer before year 3. I know I mentioned in the last chapter that I would reveal one of the repercussions to being controlled by Tom, but I couldn't find a natural point in this chapter to put it. It will be revealed in the summer I promise!**

 **We haven't seen the last of Draco Malfoy, he will be going to a different school and won't come back until year 4. You can probably guess how. Writing this story, his arc was one of the things I did not plan one, and its blossomed into this great idea I have. I'm excited to bring him back in year 4 and feel he'll be quite the adversary to Scarlet.**

 **In terms of this year as a whole, I'm really happy with it. I planned out the keys points ahead of time and it turned out wonderfully. One of the problems I had with year 1 was most of the chapters were improvised as I wrote, and I feel my writing was indicative of that. Now that I know what each chapter was going to be about I had more time to plan it out and write it out better. I was able to add scenes I didn't originally plan because I had more time to think about it, and will be using this method going forward.**

 **I hope that I made enough changes that it made this story interesting enough, even though we already knew the basic plot. I appreciate you sticking by me another year as I wrote this, and glad to hear your dms and comments about the story, keep it! I love reading them.**

 **On a final note, I know originally I was going to close this story on year 2 and make a new one with year 3. However, after thinking about I felt year three was a fitting conclusion on Scarlets first three years of Hogwarts. So going forward I'll continue to post chapters on here with the new title soon.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling**

Shadows Awakening Ch 1

As the time reached mid-afternoon, Scarlet could feel the sun at its highest beaming down at him. He was thankful he decided to wear a ball cap today because there were very little sources of shade in this tiny park. However, any relief was gone with the rest of his body cooking underneath his long-sleeved shirt.

Since he had the time he decided to sit down on one of the swing sets, and gently pushed himself with his feet, enjoying the rocking motion. As he glanced around the park he couldn't help but remember the first time he'd used accidental magic, how that day changed his life completely.

Not wanting to focus on the bad memories he moved his focus on why he was currently here.

Two days after school ended Harry had sent his owl with a note asking him if they could meet. Seeing no harm in seeing the boy he wrote a reply agreeing. With Scarlet already being familiar with Harry's neighborhood he'd offered to meet him here, the only thing left was the boy in question to arrive.

He heard the swing seat right next to him rattle as someone sat on it, he glanced to his left and saw it was Harry.

"I hope you didn't have much trouble finding this place." He asked looking at him.

Scarlet shrugged. "I've already been to this area before."

Harry merely nodded at his response and pushed himself gently on the seat. Scarlet noticed the boy seemed preoccupied with something, he could see the look of conflict on his face. He figured it must be the reason on why he asked to meet him, he'd already had an idea on what it could be but he wouldn't force the topic.

"Were you afraid?" Harry suddenly asked.

Scarlet stopped himself from pushing and turned his head over to him. It was a vague question but he knew what he was referring too.

"Of course, until I actually told all of you I had no idea how you would react." He admitted.

Harry nodded at his response, again he seemed conflicted on what to say. "When I first came to Hogwarts, I viewed it as a new start, to make the friends I always desperately wanted. As silly as it sounds, I thought if I brought up how my family had treated me, they'd view me differently, and would stay away."

Scarlet nodded to what he was saying before he told everyone he had those same fears. That they would just look at him with pity and concern every time they saw him, or maybe they'd just look at him with disgust.

"I thought the same too, one scenario I had thought of was that they would look at me with pity or concern all the time. I think you and I both agree we don't want that. When everything happened with my nightmares coming back, it started to affect my life and even though I tried so hard to keep it a secret, to pretend it was alright, everyone saw. And you know what? They ended up still looking at me with concern." Scarlet confessed, thinking back to the way Hermione looked at him when she confronted him that day in the dungeons.

"I know Ron has a good idea that my aunt and uncle aren't good people, but he doesn't know the full extent of it." Harry responded as he watched from afar a young family playing with their child.

"Anyone else?" Scarlet asked.

Harry thought it over. "Hermione probably knows, she could figure anything out with enough time."

Scarlet laughed at that comment, it was true, if she puts her mind to it she could know anything she wanted. "Adding me to that list its sounds like the majority of your friends know something is up."

Harry hummed in agreement. "I guess it's silly to keep it a secret now, huh?"

Scarlet shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe, but it's up to you. I felt as though holding it in was ruining my life, I couldn't sleep, wasn't thinking clearly and most importantly it was starting to affect the relationships I had." He admitted.

Sighing as the rays from the sun starting to become hotter, he got off from his seat and wiped down the dirt from his shorts. He looked around to see if anyone was close by, but the only people there were a family playing with their child thirty feet from them. He pulled up his right sleeve and showed Harry his arm.

"No matter how hard I tried to hide it." He morphed his arm to hide his cuts. "It'll always be a part of me, I can hide it, but I'll always know it's there." He unmorphed his arm and pulled down his sleeve.

"I can't tell you what to do, mostly because you don't have a dark wizard manipulating you with your abuse, but what I can tell you is that I don't regret what I did, and that's because I had great friends who were there for me, and you have that too." Scarlet reached over his hand towards Harry.

Harry looked at it for a moment before grabbing Scarlet's hand and letting him be pulled up off his seat.

"Thanks Scarlet, I appreciate you talking to me about this." Harry looked back and saw the family from earlier leaving, once again wishing that he had experienced at least something of having a family. "Can we do it again?"

Scarlet nodded. "Sure, not like I have anything else to do in summer, but let's go somewhere with air condition." He joked as he pulled at his collar. "Come on, let's go grab ice-cream, my treat."

Harry smiled at his joke as he followed him out of the park.

XXX

By the time Scarlet had got home, it was early in the evening, he didn't plan on staying out as late talking to Harry, but after they moved on from the discussion of his abuse they'd got to talking about more mundane topics.

Scarlet's knowledge on Quidditch being very limiting had asked Harry about the sport, about the Gryffindor team and whether they'll win next year. The boy perked up at a topic he greatly enjoyed, though he isn't as talkative and informative as their bushy-haired friend, he still went into great detail to explain to him and questions he had. Even though he had a better idea of the game he was still adamant playing Quidditch wasn't for him but would cheer Harry on during the season.

It felt a bit weird though, just sitting down, enjoying sweets, and not having to talk about Dark Lords, magic, life dangering events, they just had fun. It was a nice change of pace, and Scarlet was starting to enjoy not having to worry about all those things. Sure Voldemort was still out there, but that would be something he'd worry about once he got to Hogwarts.

As he reached the front door and inserted his key he frowned when he noticed the front door was already unlocked. ' _That's odd._ ' he slowly turned the handle and pushed the door in. There was still some sort of light out so the house wasn't completely dark. He stepped inside and closed the door behind, making sure to lock it. He walked through the hallway towards the kitchen when he heard a sound. ' _That sound came from the living room._ ' he turned around and walked back toward the front door, and turned slowly into the room. Another strange thing he noticed was that the curtains were pulled back, meaning no sunlight was seeping into the living room.

' _One way to fix that._ ' I pulled my wand out, the rules of underage magic is very clear, you're not allowed to use it, however, Tonks had told him if your life is in danger than that can be overlooked. A possible intruder in your own home was a good enough reason, reacting quickly Scarlet raised his wand out and cast Lumos.

Except the spell didn't work, he thought at first it was because the Ministry was able to somehow prevent underage wizards from using magic in general, but a few moments later red sparks starting to go off, Scarlet recoiled as some of the sparks burned his hand and he dropped his wand.

The lights turned on suddenly and Scarlet saw Tonks sitting down in the middle of the room, petting Ghost who was sitting on his lap. He scowled as she had an amused look on her face at what just transpired.

"You know most blokes have that same problem with their sticks not working in the presence of a lady, but I didn't think it would happen so early with you." She laughed as she stood up with Ghost in her arms.

"I imagine most blokes don't have some creep sitting in the dark in their own house." Scarlet bit back, carefully picking up his wand.

Tonks looked up and tapped one of her fingers on her chin pretending to ponder. "Not as many as you'd think."

"Well, Merlin help me and them." Scarlet muttered as he walked over and put his wand on the table.

"What are you even doing here? I figured you would be busy in the Auror office after what happened" It wasn't that Scarlet wasn't happy to see Tonks, he always was, but the last time he saw here was the night she brought him to the infirmary. Her boss Auror Shacklebolt whisked her off quickly to receive a detailed report on what happened, she'd written to him that work was crazy busy and she'd be busy for a while, it hadn't been very long.

"I was, am, actually I should be right now, but I came to see my number one fan for a little bit." She smiled as she sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to him.

Scarlet sat down beside her, he picked up Ghost from her and put him on his lap. He gave the owl an affectionate rub. "So I can't imagine this is just a simple drop in and say hello."

Tonks smirked, she stretched her arms and legs and settled in comfortably on his couch. "Well, I have a few things I wanted to share, and I imagine you have some things you're curious to know."

"Like why haven't I been put in Azkaban prison yet?" Scarlet replied bluntly.

Tonks was about to make another joke before she saw the anger on Scarlet's face. "You don't belong in that place, it was built for the worst kind of wizard and witches."

"I petrified numerous students, endangered the lives of many people, and because of me the DADA professor is dead!" Scarlet bit back angrily.

Tonks had a frown on her face. "Because you were manipulated by that damn book, you can't hold yourself responsible for being all crazy mind-controlled." She answered back.

"But it was okay to put the blame on Lockhart and Malfoy?" Scarlet answered rhetorical.

Tonks sighed and sat up straighter on the couch. "I lied to my boss, I told them that Lockhart was the Heir of Slytherin, and I threw in how Malfoy had joined along as well." She explained.

"And they just believed that?" Scarlet asked skeptically.

Tonks shrugged at him. "I showed Moody and Shacklebolt my memory of revealing the identity of Lockhart."

Scarlet stared curiously at her. "You can show memories?"

Tonks hummed in agreement. "Yup, with enough thought and concentration anyone can pull out a memory and store it in a vial, but you need to view it in a pensive to be able to see it." She answered. "I couldn't bloody show them what happened between Tom and me in the chamber, so I showed them only the first part."

"But you let those two take the fall for me." Scarlet replied sadly.

Tonks scoffed at him. "Bloody hell I did, Lockhart was already dead, I'm sure he won't be too upset. Besides Malfoy from what you told me willingly joined him in trying to kill every single muggle-born, he deserved expulsion and a lot more."

A sad look came on Tonks' face. "I wasn't going to let you be punished for something you didn't consciously do."

Scarlet didn't look in her in the eye as she talked to him, it was all a lot to take in. As much as she agreed that Malfoy deserved what he got and that Lockhart wouldn't have too many problems with it, it didn't take away the guilt he still had, to his victims and a small part to those two.

He felt Tonks shuffle a bit closer to him on the couch. "Scarlet, this isn't your fault." She put her hand up to stop him from arguing. "I get it, you feel guilty over what happened, but just like with what happened back in that playground it isn't your fault. And just like that day, what happened after, you didn't deserve _that_."

Scarlet inwardly sighed at that comparison. "For a long, while we blamed himself for the abuse he received, he thought maybe he did something bad with the ice, or maybe he wasn't being a good enough son to them, in his eyes he did something to deserve this. Scarlet was embarrassed to admit to himself how long it took before he realized it wasn't his fault, it was his parents. ' _Maybe she's right, I coped so horribly with my abuse that it led me right here._ '

Tonks could see the words she spoke start to have an effect on the young boy. "Answer me this." She saw Scarlet turn towards her. "Every single person who knows what happened, me, your dorky alliance, did any of us blame you for what happened?"

Scarlet frowned as he remembered the conversation back in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, none of them blamed him, in fact, they were really supportive of him. Even Ron didn't blame him and he had every reason too, perhaps Tonks and they were right?

"You know it's very annoying every time you're right Tonks." Scarlet muttered to her.

Tonks laughed as the Scarlet she knew was coming out. "Well I am the older, wiser one here, of course, I'm right."

"Older? Yes. Wiser?" Scarlet shrugged his shoulders at a so-so answer.

"Prat." Tonks muttered, much to the amusement of both of them.

She was glad to see Scarlet starting to joke around with her, and stop being super serious. It again reminded her he just turned thirteen, he was supposed to be having fun, goofing with his friends, going on da… Tonks' eyes widened, Scarlet was getting at that age when he would start getting curious about the opposite gender. She gave the boy a quick side-eye glance and thought about how to play this. As far as she was aware he didn't have any other adults in his personal life, so the responsibility to give him _the talk_ rested on her shoulders. She inwardly shuddered at the thought of that going poorly. Sure she could be a flirt, and make jokes about _that_ , but she was the last person to be able to explain it without causing severe harm. ' _Maybe I can convince mum to do it._ '

"Knut for your thoughts Tonks?" Scarlet interrupted her thoughts.

Tonks shook her head repeatedly. "Me? Naw, just thinking about stuff." She answered vaguely looking anywhere but at him.

Scarlet raised his brow at the colorful witch but seeing as she refused to explain more he just shrugged his shoulders.

"You told me you wanted to share something with me, what is it?" Scarlet asked changing the subject.

Tonks seemed to have a light bulb moment as if she'd forgotten one of the reasons she went there. She started rummaging through her clothes looking for something.

She finally found it and pulled it out to show him. It was a badge, what was most amusing was the picture of her had her face really serious, but her hair was bright pink.

"Is this what I think it is?" Scarlet asked happily.

Tonks nodded eagerly. "Yup, I'm an official Auror!"

"Congratulations." Scarlet moved over and gave the girl a hug, he was very proud of his friend, this was the one thing she'd been working towards since he'd known her.

"I thought you had to train in the academy for two years before becoming official?" Scarlet asked once he let go.

"Well Shacklebolt was very impressed by my actions that night in the chamber, add to the fact that my mentor Moody vouched quite favorably to me, promoted me." She said happily bouncing up and down in her seat.

"Well if it wasn't for you I don't know what would've happened to me, so for whatever it's worth you have my seal of approval, no better witch for the job." Scarlet complimented.

"What out dark wizards of the world!" Tonks yelled standing up from the couch. "Auror Tonks is on the scene and nothing will bring her doooo-." Unfortunately, at that moment her foot got caught in the rug below her and tripped her causing her to land face-first onto the floor.

Scarlet was never one to laugh at the misery of others but the timing of her infamous trip was hilarious, he couldn't stop the laugh from escaping his lips, he started to laugh harder when she lifted her face off the ground and glared at him.

"Yeah, yeah, really funny." He heard her mutter getting up from the ground.

The laughter soon calmed down, but he couldn't hide the big grin on his face. "You really know how to cheer me up Tonks, thanks." He said genuinely, it was the reason why he valued their relationship, she was always able to bring a smile to his face.

"One of my many gifts." Tonks replied patting her clothes down to remove the wrinkles. "Anyway, I should be getting back to work now, the office is still a mess with all the paperwork I have to do. Do you believe that!? I help save Hogwarts and I'm rewarded with paperwork.!" Tonks yelled in mock outrage.

"No good deed goes unpunished." Scarlet quipped walking Tonks out of the house.

"Don't worry I should be done soon, then you and I will get to enjoy our summer. I think dads going to host a BBQ next week." Tonks offered.

"I'll like that. Have a goodnight Tonks." Scarlet waved goodbye.

"Goodnight Scarlet. Don't worry, things will get better, I promise!" She told him, right before apparating away, leaving the boy standing at his front door alone.

Scarlet sighed as he looked down. "I wish I could share your optimism Tonks." He said sadly as he pulled the sleeve of his left arm up, the Dark Mark staring right back at him.

XXX

"I'll find you."

"I'll find you."

"I'll find you."

I quietly muttered to myself as I sat in a corner in my dark cell. Before I was sentenced here I was never one for talking to myself, but with very little interaction with my guards or cellmates, all I had was myself to talk too _._

The only real interaction I had aside from myself were from Dementors. They are among the foulest creatures that walk this world. They infest the darkness, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them. Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory would be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementors will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself...soulless and evil. You would be left with nothing but the worst experience of your life.

They didn't need walls and water to keep the prisoners inside, not when they're trapped inside their own heads, incapable of a single cheerful thought. Most had gone mad within a few weeks.

I grit my teeth as I heard loud crackling from a few cells down.

"Shut up!" I yelled but that didn't do anything if anything it made the person speak louder.

I wasn't surprised by it, it's what happens when you get your soul sucked at, it leaves you cold, so cold, and very little energy to move. For as long as I've been her most of my cellmates had snapped and gone mad by the countless torture they'd endured by the Dementors.

I shook my head, no, that would never happen to me. Even over a decade trapped in this disgusting place I never lost my focus, my only goal in life.

"I'll find you." I muttered again, it was the only way I could keep myself sane.

I heard more talking going on outside my cell. I sat up about to yell at them to be quiet before I noticed it wasn't incoherent talking, it was an actual conversation.

"Thank you so much for getting me out of here, I don't know how much longer I could handle it." A gruff voice said it sounded like a large fellow.

"No worries, I work here and already hate it, sucks to be those guys." Another voice chimed in.

I frowned as the voices got closer. ' _What's going on?_ ' It was very rare that I found people walking through the halls. The only time I saw the guards was when they were depositing a new guest, but this didn't sound like that. ' _Are they letting someone go?_ ' I sneered as that should've been me leaving.

Just as the voices reached my cell I closed my eyes and leaned against my bars, feigning sleep.

"Gosh, look at these people, disgusting I tell you." I heard someone mock as they passed by my cell. It took everything in me to not reach through and strangle the pompous fool.

Once they passed me I opened my eyes slowly and saw one of the two guards escorting a giant man. Considering the fact that the man could barely squeeze through the hallways she figured he must've been a half-giant.

I slowly crawled to the opposite side of the wall and leaned back to try to continue hearing more, but they were soon out of range. I cursed as the only interesting thing in here the past while was gone. I cursed again as any moment the Dementors would pass through the halls and start their daily torture.

The guards were smart, because of how weak a Dementor leaves its victims, they had the creatures pass through just enough times that they kept you constantly weak. It was only through the sheer will that I was still mobile and had my mind intact. ' _Well, some of it at least._ ' I chuckled to myself.

In fact, it had been a while since their last visit, I started to feel myself regaining my strength not a lot, but just enough to stand upright. I leaned against the wall breathing heavily, trying to soak in this moment for as long as I could.

I frowned as I soon heard movement down the hallway coming closer. I figured it was too good to be true as the Dementors must've been coming through for their daily rounds. But as the sound came closer it sounded more like footsteps.

"Damn I can't believe I forgot my keys." I heard the man mutter.

It was a guard, and from the muttering and footsteps, I could tell it was only one. Right as the guard passed by my cell I pushed my arm through the bars and pulled him in my direction. I heard him gasp in surprise as he was grabbed, I pulled him until he hit the bars face first, not giving him a chance to react and lifted my right hand and stabbed my nails into his face eliciting a scream. I smirked as it had been too long since I heard that type of scream at the hands of my actions.

' _No, concentrate!_ ' I yelled internally to myself, I used my hand that had a hold of his robes and rummaged through until I found his wand. It didn't matter if the wand wasn't my own, I'd force it under my will. I fired a bone-breaking curse at point-blank range, the screaming only intensified and the man coughed up a few drops of blood that landed on my face. ' _This feels sooo good._ '

I threw the man back and watched as he fell onto the floor, whether he was dead or knocked out I didn't care. I pointed to the wall at the other end of my cell and fired a spell causing a small explosion. I breathed in heavily as a rush of fresh air filled my lungs.

I walked over until I was on the other side and leaned down, and saw the large body of water surrounding the prison. ' _I forgot how high up we are._ ' The prison was a fortress, high above the raging water. I turned around one last time at what was my _home_ for the last thirteen years.

" _I'll find you._ " Was my last thought as I jumped off and dove straight into the water below. I cackled loudly with the wind in my face at the fact that I, Bellatrix Lestrange, was the first person to escape from Azkaban prison. An accomplishment I would make the entire wizarding pay for.

 **Authors Notes: Not the longest chapter, but that just made it quicker to upload. Using this chapter to plant a few seeds that'll start growing in this year and future years to come. I told you there would a big repercussion to Scarlet, and having the Dark Mark permanently on your arm is a big one. In the future, I'll show how he received it and how it's going to start affecting him going further.**

 **Hopefully, I surprised you about who was narrating in the last scene, wanted it to be a suprise and also experiment with firth person. Bellatrix is one of my favourite characters and part of writing this story was to give characters who didn't have a large role in the movies or books more of a role. We'll see more of what shes up to soon. Hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll see you soon!**


	28. Chapter 28

Shadows Awakening Chapter 2

 **Disclaimer: Negotiations are ongoing for the rights of Harry Potter, but at this moment I do not own them and still belong to JK Rowling. Stay tuned for further updates.**

Scarlet was soon realizing that his biggest weakness was doors. Here he was standing in front of a door and he was dreading what was on the other side. Okay maybe doors weren't his weakness specifically, but what was generally on the other side are.

Here he was standing in front of the Tonks residence. He's never been afraid to come here, in fact, he's enjoyed his visits, they offer him the closest experience he'll ever have to staying inside a family home. But today's visit was not for pleasure, no, it was for business. Today he was here to meet with Tonks mother Andromeda.

Again it wasn't her that he was nervous about, it was what she brought with her. A few days after Tonks had surprisingly visited him, she'd written to him suggesting that he see a therapist. It made sense, the traumatic experience he had gone through had left him emotionally vulnerable, no nightmares, but he still felt incredible guilt over what happened, and he couldn't help but blame himself despite what everyone said. Add to the fact that he still had a lot of issues from his time with his parents that are unresolved. The problem was that he didn't trust a stranger to reveal his deepest darkest secrets to them. Of course, Tonks had anticipated this answer and had gleefully told him that her mother was a professional therapist for both the magical and muggle folks.

Scarlet immediately dismissed the idea of telling his pink-haired friend that if she knew what he'd gone through, what he did, that would ruin his relationship with her and he could potentially never be allowed back in her home. Tonks being Tonks didn't take no for an answer, at first she had kindly explained that he was practically family and that Andromeda had always cared about him, and had asked her questions on how he was doing. When Scarlet was still unsure, Tonks stepped up her persuasion. She'd sent a Howler to him in the middle of the night, the loud roar from the witch had knocked the sleepiness out of him and he was wide awake and scared at the message being yelled at him.

So that's where Scarlet stood now, he'd written to Andromeda asking if he could have a therapeutic session with her, she happily agreed and told him to stop by the next day at noon.

He sighed heavily and rang the doorbell. ' _No turning back now._ ' He thought nervously. He heard footsteps coming towards the door, he heard someone fiddling with the lock before the door swung open and inside stood Andromeda Tonks.

"Hello, Scarlet, my you've grown, it's so wonderful to see you again." She smiled at him before wrapping him in a hug.

"Nice to see you again Andi." Scarlet replied warmly in the embrace.

It had been a year since he'd last seen her, he'd stop by a couple of times during the summer for dinners, or just to hang out with Tonks. Last year Andromeda was taller than him, now after a year of growth, he stood just slightly taller than her.

"Why haven't you visited more often?" She jokingly scolded.

Scarlet gave her a sheepish look, not having a really good excuse.

"Well just remember I always enjoy the company of such a well behaved person in this house." She told him softly bringing him inside.

"Are you telling me Tonks isn't on her best behavior around you?" Scarlet quipped.

Andromeda made an exaggeration at rolling her eyes at his question. "Honestly I think you're a better influence on her than the other way."

He couldn't help but laugh at her comment, he knew right away it wasn't meant in a malicious way, more of a place of love. It was small instances like that did he wonder what his relationship with his mother might be like if they accepted him for who he was.

Andromeda led him to a back room, he knew from the tour he received earlier that this was the woman's office. As soon as he walked inside he knew the word _office_ probably wasn't the correct term to describe. Instead of a desk with papers neatly piled on top of it, there were two chairs facing one another looking very comfortable, there were a few paintings on the wall and a window with a nice view of the back yard. On the wall in plain view of the seats was a small clock.

Andromeda motioned for him to sit down on one of the chairs, he made his way and sat down on one of the chairs, he could feel his body sink into the cushion. Andromeda took the remaining chair, she smiled at him before reaching over to the side and pulling out a small notepad with a pen.

Scarlet was confused about why she brought those out.

Andromeda noticed his confused look. "I use them to take notes, I have a few clients and sometimes it can be a tad overwhelming to keep track of everything." She explained as she flipped open the book quickly and Scarlet could see the pages littered with notes, not enough to read them, but get the idea. "Also helps to review my notes at the end of the day, I might think of something I didn't think of at the session. Is that okay with you?"

Andromeda's words made sense to him, he was just worried that anything written could lead back to some unfavorable people, but he mentally shook his head at the notion, Andromeda wouldn't let that happen.

"That's fine with me." He responded.

Andromeda smiled at his answer. "That's good because the whole point of this is to make you feel as comfortable as possible."

Scarlet nodded his head at her comment, now that he had a chance to settle in his seat and get a better idea of how this is going to go, made him feel slightly better. It was always the unknown that worried him the most, he always preferred to prepare for most situations or conversations when possible.

It was why he spent most of the day yesterday going through a muggle library trying to read about peoples experience with therapy. What it was like, how did they feel, were there any tricks involved? Unfortunately, most of them he read were very different, in terms of setting, the amount of time spent, or levels of success, if any.

One person shared that they were still going to therapy after ten years, he shuddered at the thought he was that damaged he'd need therapy for the most part of his life. But having a maniacal dark lord in your mind for nearly a year doesn't leave you mentally stable.

"Knut for your thoughts?" Andromeda asked.

Scarlet noticed that Andromeda was giving him a concerned look, he glanced over at the clock and noticed that a few minutes had passed since he sat down.

Scarlet adjusted awkwardly in his seat. "I'm just unsure of how to start these things."

Andromeda smiled softly at him. "Well I'll be honest, this is a little bit of a special session for me. Tonks told me you had a lot of things on your mind that she felt you needed professional help to go through."

Scarlet nodded at her words, still unsure of what to say. He couldn't just start off with ' _I'm the Heir of Slytherin and I tormented the school and tried to kill almost everyone in it including your daughter._ '

"She also explained it was very important that what was said between us, stays in this room." Andromeda added. For the first time since coming in, she seemed unsure. "Now I promise you that everything you say to me, and anything spoken in this room is between us. However, I've gotten to know you for nearly two years, so I'm going to offer you this."

She pulled out her wand and held it against her other forearm. "If what you're going to tell me is as big as my daughter makes it out to be, I can swear to you a magical oath thats binding and cannot be unbroken."

Scarlet perked up at the thought, he'd heard about magical oaths. How you can swear on your magic to anything to prove you're being honest. However, most people didn't because even if the oath was broken accidentally there would be dangerous consequences. The most devastating would be losing your life, at best you would only lose your magic, but in the eyes of the wizarding world, it would practically be a death sentence.

His first instinct was to ask her to conduct the oath, but he knew that was wrong. Even if the oath was worded exactly as both of them wanted there would always be a chance it could be broken, he didn't want to be the reason Tonks lost her mother. Another reason was that he trusted her, Andromeda had shown him kindness the moment he stepped into her home. Whether it was having him over for the holidays, writing the odd letter during school, and even having him over for game night.

Scarlet shook his head. "It's okay, I trust you Andromeda."

She smiled at him and put her wand on top of a small table beside her.

"I guess the biggest reason why I'm here is that I'm dealing with a lot of guilt." He explained slowly. To her credit Andromeda merely nodded and let him continue at his own pace. "The reason I'm dealing with a lot of guilt is that I'm the Heir of Slytherin."

Andromeda didn't say anything after his reveal, she just stared back at him. It was a few moments before she sighed heavily. "I should've known something was wrong, Tonks was very vague on the details of what happened."

"Now you see why." Scarlet added nervously.

She smiled softly at him. "It was to protect you, my daughter has always had a soft spot for you."

That was very clear, it was a scary feeling to have such a deep bond with someone that they would risk their own career just for them. Scarlet never had someone like that, and there was nothing he could do to repay that.

"What do you feel guilty about Scarlet?" Andromeda asked bringing the conversation back to the main topic.

"I feel guilty that I hurt so many people, I mean I nearly killed everyone I cared about." Scarlet admitted.

"Why did you do it then." Andromeda prodded.

Scarlet sighed. "I didn't have a choice, I was being controlled by the actual heir of Slytherin." He responded. He went on to explain how he became in contact with the Heir through a dark diary and how it possessed him into doing its bidding.

"Then none of this is your fault." She said easily after he finished. "Scarlet, it makes sense why you feel guilty over what happened, but if you were being controlled by something or someone to do those horrible acts than that's not on you, but the person responsible."

"Don't you think I know that?" Scarlet snapped. "Sorry." He quickly apologized when he realized what he did.

She smiled softly at him. "It's okay, you aren't the first person to yell at me during these sessions."

Scarlet brought his hand through his hair and sighed heavily. "I get that it isn't my fault, that the actual Heir is, but that doesn't take away the feeling of remorse I have when I see my fellow classmates, and especially the Weasley clan."

"Do any of them know your role in what happened last year?" She questioned.

"Aside from your daughter only my close friends, including Ron Weasley." Scarlet responded.

"And how did Ron react when you told him this?" She further inquired.

Scarlet looked to his side, he could see the outside of the house through the window, it was calming. "He admitted when he first heard what I had done that he was furious." He started to answer. "Then when he had time to think about it, he told me he doesn't blame me for what happened, and felt I was just as much a victim as any of them."

Andromeda smiled at his answer and wrote a few quick notes in her book. "If Ron doesn't feel any remorse towards you, then why do you feel this way?"

"Because...I don't know if I can fully blame Tom for what he did to everyone." Scarlet answered.

"And why is that?" She asked.

"When Tom had control over me, it wasn't like I knew what was going on and tried to fight it. Every thought or action felt right to me. My anger towards Ron felt justified and I wanted him to feel pain. What if Tom didn't force me to do anything? What if everything he made me do, is something I felt deep inside and Tom was merely an outlet for that, an excuse to finally be what I am." Scarlet explained.

Andromeda stopped writing and put the notebook and pen down on the table. What surprised Scarlet is that she almost looked like she was about to cry.

"Why do you hold such a low opinion of yourself?" She asked sadly. It wasn't a look of pity but just a look any parent would give their child who had been hurt so much. It was a look full of sympathy and compassion.

It was hard to look her in the eye, it almost felt as though he was letting her down by admitting his true feelings. "Because I am not a good person. My first year in Hogwarts I wanted no part in having friends, I thought horrible things about Harry and Ron, even things about Hermione herself. I was so selfish, and the one time I tried to put all those away and try to embrace people, I nearly killed them." Scarlet admitted quietly, he thought by saying his darkest thoughts out loud would help, but it all it did was just make all his insecurities even more real.

He could hear Andromeda get off her seat, she took a few steps before she was standing right in front of him. Scarlet instinctively stood up as well, and that's when she did something he didn't expect, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.

She might've believed that Scarlet might pull away, especially since she knew the boy wasn't one for affection, but she was surprised when Scarlet buried his face in her neck which broke Andromeda's heart. This told her the boy had probably gone a long time without any motherly affection. Every child needed a mother in Andromeda's opinion. "You're not a bad person Scarlet, you've just been through so much."

Scarlet didn't say anything, he just allowed himself to cry in Andromeda's arm and hold on stronger to the comfort in her arms. It was a different kind of comfort Daphne, Hermione, or even Tonks could show him. This was a comfort only a mother could give, and it's something he wasn't even sure he was given in his entire life, but he knew at that moment he needed it.

"It's going to be okay Scarlet, I promise I'll do anything I can to help you get through all this." Andromeda whispered to her softly as she soothingly rubbed Scarlets back, knowing the poor boy needed all the love and affection he could get."

Andromeda knew that Scarlet was dealing with problems that ran a lot deeper than what she originally thought. The fact that the poor boy seemed so alone, spoke of parents who aren't providing the love and support he needed or aren't around. As she looked at the boy crying in her arms, she knew it was the latter, she just hoped she could be there for the boy and be able to give him what he desperately needed.

XXX

The session didn't last much longer after he broke down in Andromeda's office, she said that they'd made a good start, but weekly sessions would help greatly, and he agreed. It was a little awkward goodbye as he didn't know exactly what to say to someone after crying on their shoulder for ten minutes. Luckily she just smiled at him and told him to come over whenever he liked.

He appreciated that from her, she didn't expect anything from him, and just wanted to spend time with him, it was nice.

Scarlet had originally planned on going home immediately after his session, but it reminded him the problem he had with his wand, and since he was already out he might as well fix it and rode the bus to Diagon Alley.

He pulled his wand out of his pocket while walking and glanced down at it since the night when Tonks sneaked into his house he was curious about why it didn't work. He first theorized that since he was underage that the wand simply did not work, however, Ron had once told him his older brother Bill got in trouble by using his wand on his younger siblings and got in a lot of trouble from the Ministry of Magic, so underage wizards could still use wands.

Deciding that he could afford at least one warning from the government Scarlet had decided to try to use his wand again. However once again when he cast the spell nothing happened, or the very least some sparks would come out, not even close to performing the spell. He didn't know why his wand was suddenly not working, and since he had no parents to help him, his only solution was to go to where he originally purchased his wand, Oliivanders.

As he continued walking through Diagon Alley he tried to remember the last time he'd used his wand, and he was having trouble trying to think of it. ' _Was it really that long?_ ' After the events in chamber Scarlet never had a reason to use his wand, the school year was nearly done. What worried him the most was that the last time the wand was actually used was when he was possessed by Tom.

' _Did he do something to it?_ ' Scarlet immediately shook his head at the notion, Tom was gone and he wouldn't have any more control over him.

Scarlet soon reached the shop, he peered inside to check if it was busy, he was glad to see no one inside. ' _Don't want to announce my problem to anyone listening in._ '

Walking over to the door he was about to reach for the handle before he stopped himself. His hand hovering over the handle, he didn't know how to explain it, but something just didn't feel right. Like there was something tugging on his clothes trying to pull him away. He put his arm down and took a step back, the feeling lessened a little bit but he still felt this tugging sensation. He shook his head at the notion. ' _I'm being ridiculous._ '

He once again tried to reach for the handle, but he started to feel it again, something in his head was screaming that this wasn't right. Scarlet took several steps back until he was far enough away from the shop that the feeling went away, it didn't. It lessened severely but he could still feel it if he focused long enough he could feel something trying to push him further in the alley.

Looking around Scarlet noticed that there wasn't anything out of the ordinary, people were milling about enjoying their day. In fact, a young child and his parents walked up the wand shop and entered without a second thought.

Scarlet looked to his left, where the feeling was trying to pull him towards, but he didn't see anything. He looked back at Ollivanders and he couldn't help but feel uneasy like this wasn't right. He took a few hesitant steps away and the uneasiness of it started to fade, he took more steps until it was completely gone.

He soon found himself walking further into Diagon Alley, confused on what was going on, why he was feeling this way. It wasn't long before he found himself in a quieter area, he looked around wondering where this feeling was bringing him too, he soon found his answer as he felt the same pull as he passed a narrow alleyway that branched off from the main path.

Frowning, Scarlet looked inside the alley and wasn't impressed. It was dark, old, and it looked like the last place anyway would want to go for their summer shopping. Looking up, he saw a sign pointing further down that read. "Knockturn Alley." The only time he'd ever heard of the name was when Ron was retelling the story of Harry's miserable attempt at using a Floo Call for the first time, and how instead of arriving in Diagon Alley had accidentally sent himself into this place.

Remembering that same day, he remembered Harry not looking hurt, dirty, but that's because of the Floor Call itself. He glanced around to make sure no one was looking before stepping inside the narrow alleyway. He nearly turned away as he first smelled something awful, but the feeling still kept pulling him further in. He pulled the hood of his cloak over his head as he reached a set of staircases leading down, further inside.

Reaching the bottom Scarlets opinion of Knockturn Alley worsened. This was a place he shouldn't be walking around, it was really dark, the shops themselves looked old and not well kept, at least from the outside. There were people wandering about, minding their own business, others rambling to themselves, it was the complete opposite of Diagon Alley.

Yet for all its flaws, and warning signs he should turn back now, Scarlet didn't. If anything he felt some familiarity with it, he was comfortable here, as if he'd been here numerous times. He walked further inside wondering how this disgusting place could make him feel comfortable, but it did, and the feeling inside of him pulling him here just continued to get stronger.

He glanced down at his left forearm, wondering if the Dark Mark had anything to do with this. Before he got it he would never be stupid enough to travel somewhere this dangerous, and especially not willingly exploring it.

Despite the dark appearance of it, he didn't run into any trouble, most people just glanced at him and then returned to their own devices. He did have one senile old woman appear in front of him, rambling about something useless, but he merely shrugged her off and continued. It wasn't until he walked by a certain shop that the feeling grew.

Scarlet almost gasped as the feeling was so overwhelming, as he looked at the shop in front of him he figured this was the place. Going to Ollivanders he felt in every way possible that it was wrong, but standing in front of this shop felt right. Like he'd been here before, and he knew he'd be accepted here.

He looked up top and saw the shop was called Borgin and Burkes. He frowned as it looked like an antique shop, he could see through the giant window that there were several artifacts inside, most of which he didn't recognize, most importantly was that this wasn't a wand shop.

' _I've walked this far, might as well see this through._ ' Scarlet looked down at his arm that held the mark, praying to Merlin he wasn't going to regret this, and that this wasn't some going away present Tom left that was going to kill him.

Taking a deep breath he pulled the door open and walked inside. It was a fairly large shop, rows and rows of different kinds of artifacts were displayed, the only mundane thing around was the fireplace. ' _This must've been where he arrived._ ' He couldn't imagine expecting to arrive in Diagon Alley and ending up in this place. And yet, he couldn't help but feel he'd been here before, and instead of being intimidated by what he presumed to be "dark magic" felt comfortable in this setting.

He soon reached a front counter of sorts, he glanced around but didn't see anyone. Glancing down he did see a bell, one he presumed to announce his presence. Making sure his hood was in place over his head he tapped the bell a few quick times.

"Yes, yes, I'll be there in a moment." A gruff voice announced further inside.

Soon a man appeared and walked over to him, he definitely fits the part of Knockturn Alley. His clothes though on the nicer side seemed dirty, his hair seemed disgustingly oily, and his eyes gave away the personality of someone always looking to make a quick galleon.

His eyes shone brightly once they landed on Scarlet, but as the man walked closer to shine seemed to dim until he was standing right in front of him.

"I don't do business with minors, kid." He spat.

Scarlet flinched that he saw through his hood, he inwardly cursed as he pulled his hood off. ' _Okay, let's try plan B._ ' He grabbed a small pouch of galleons he'd withdrawn from Gringotts earlier and laid it on the table. The pouch making a certain ding on impact announcing its contents inside.

Almost as if a switch was flipped inside his head the owner's attitude changed. "My, where are my manners. Borgin of Borgin and Burkes at your service." He bowed his head for added emphasis.

Scarlet couldn't help but smirk that such a little amount of money could demand such respect, but it would all be for nothing if this shopkeeper couldn't help him with his problem.

"You sell _items_ in this shop correct?" Scarlet asked, struggling to find the correct term to describe what was inside.

"Yes, but I'm also in the service of purchasing items off of clients." He added.

Scarlet nodded at that, he remembered Harry mentioning he overheard Lucious Malfoy leaving a few items in Borgins care so that he wouldn't be caught having them in his own home if the Ministry conducted a raid.

"I'm in the service for a new wand, you wouldn't by any chance have any?" Scarlet asked.

The man snorted at his question. However, once he noticed the glare Scarlet was giving him he quickly coughed and shook his head. "No disrespect but you aren't the first student to come here looking for a wand."

Scarlet frowned at that. "I'm not?"

Borgin looked at him for a moment. "You honestly don't know?"

Scarlet just shook his head in confusion, it didn't make sense why other students would come here looking for a wand, the only reason he was here was that…' _Well I actually don't know why I came here._ '

Borgin seemed to be contemplating whether to continue but as he noticed Scarlet start to reach over for his pouch back he quickly decided he felt like sharing today.

"The Ministry keeps track of students in order to make sure they aren't performing underage magic." The man stated. Not sure where this was going Scarlet merely nodded along. "However, when it comes to underage magic they don't do anything, why do you think that is?"

"Because it's accidental?" Scarlet responded.

Borgin just shook his head. "Because it isn't magic performed with your wand, the Ministry can only keep track of you if you're using a wand from a shop they monitor. That's why some families buy wands from me or other shops in Knockturn Alley, but it isn't a very common fact."

Scarlet narrowed his eyes at man's words. ' _That actually makes a lot of sense, explains why I never received a notice or warning when I froze that play structure over. Is this why I was brought all the way down here?_ '

"That's actually really interesting to know, thank you. However, it's useless if you don't have any wands." Scarlet said after thinking over this new information.

"Yes, yes, I'll bring my collection over." He said hurriedly walking to the back room, he later came out with a small box and placed it between them.

Inside was about ten wands, all in different shapes and sizes, some looked like you didn't even want to touch them.

"Where did you get these?" He questioned, a wand was useless to him if they were stolen and still belonged to their old masters.

As if sensing his concerns he shook his head. "Most of these were sold to me, others were asked to place in my safe keeping only for the owners to die years later."

They weren't exactly what he had in mind for a new wand, but the feeling that brought him down here did so for a reason. He raised his hand and grabbed the first one, it was dark red and around thirteen inches, but it didn't feel right. Putting it down he reached for the next one, again it didn't feel right. He went through the rest of them, each with varying degrees but none of them felt right in his hands. Sighing heavily he put down the last one, annoyed he'd just wasted time coming all the way down here.

"Unfortunately that's all the wands I have." Borgin told him while closing the box and taking it away. "However, I can make you one."

Scarlets head perked at that. "You can make wands?" He questioned skeptically. He had enough trouble trusting the man to sell him something that wouldn't kill.

"I admit I haven't done it since the war, but I'm fully capable. My former partner Caractacus Burke was a wandmaker, taught me everything he knew." He said confidently, standing up straighter.

Scarlet wanted to immediately say no, and walk out, but again there was a feeling holding him back, telling him to say yes. "Okay, if you can make one then sure."

Borgin clapped at his answer. "Excellent! Now the details! What do you want your wand made of, and what core do you want?"

Scarlet froze at that, he actually wasn't sure what he had in mind for a wand. His first thought was the wand he already had, he reached down and felt the wand in his pockets, but it just didn't feel right. ' _What to make it out of?_ ' As if they had a mind of its own, he felt his hand reach behind him into his robes and grab two pouches, he pulled them out and placed them on the counter. ' _What in Merlin's name?_ '

Scarlet was confused about what was inside those pouches, they didn't hold more money, he was certain. In fact, he didn't even remember packing those, he rubbed his head as nothing about his trip down here was making sense.

Borgin reached out and opened the first one inside, he gasped and almost dropped the pouch when he saw the contents inside. "Ba-ba-ba-basilisk scales?" He said incredulously, reaching over for the next one had the shopkeeper equally surprised. "Venom?"

It took everything in him to not act as surprised as the shopkeeper, his mind was busy racing trying to figure out how he became in possession of those two rare items. After he was freed from Tom Riddles control he never went back into the chamber, but Tom must've harvested some things from his pet while he was being controlled. ' _It's the only way I'd have those things on me without even knowing._ ' Scarlet cursed as Tom was still invading his life.

"These are perfect!" Borgins announcement broke Scarlet out of his thoughts. "A liquid core will be very difficult but I can make a wand out of these materials, it'll be one-of-a-kind." He told him, never taking his eyes off the scales and venom.

Scarlet sighed in relief that one good thing came about today, this wasn't the wand he had in mind, nor the experience he thought he'd have, but at least potentially fixing his magic issue was a win for him today. ' _Can't wait to see what a basilisk wand will look like._ '

" **Yes, I can't wait to see either.** "

Scarlet looked behind him to see where the voice was coming from but didn't see anyone. He looked back over to the shopkeeper to see if he asked him anything, but he was preoccupied with the contents in the pouch. He mentally shrugged that he was just hearing things.

 **Authors Note: So Scarlets finally talking about his problems to a professional, it won't be an easy process, especially with the Dark Mark on his arm, and the worst hasn't even come yet, but he will get better!**

 **Next chapter will bring the return of our escapee, what does she have planned? Just will have to wait to find out. I currently have four more chapters left of the summer planned out, one is more filleresque, but I feel with all this doom and gloom, some good fun is needed.**

 **Also, the next chapter should be out sooner as I have already started writing it and around halfway through.**


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